The U.S. Supreme Court halted for one day proceedings related to an antitrust dispute between a California trial court and iPhone maker and game publisher Epic Games.
Photo credit: Wesley Tingey / unsplash.com
During these 24 hours, the Supreme Court will consider Apple’s request for a lower court to suspend further action in the case – the deadline expires at 17:00 Washington time on August 13 (0:00 Moscow time on August 14). In June, the Supreme Court agreed to review Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers’ decision holding Apple civilly liable for willfully failing to comply with a 2021 ban related to its App Store paid services. The company upheld the verdict on appeal and appealed to a higher court.
District Judge Gonzalez-Rogers denied a similar request for a stay on Aug. 11. Apple said if the Supreme Court finds the decision was wrong, then there will be no need for further proceedings in district court. Judge Gonzalez-Rogers objects to Supreme Court decision to hear Apple appeal “It will not materially affect the factual issues that must be decided in order to obtain an injunction”.
The current lawsuit dates back to a lawsuit originally filed by Epic Games against Apple in 2020. In the original trial, Judge Gonzalez-Rogers ruled that Apple’s charging of App Store fees did not violate federal antitrust laws but violated California law and ordered Apple to allow developers to direct app users to third-party payment processors. Apple allowed this but imposed a 27% commission on such payments, a move the judge found contrary to its previous decision and ordered the company to stop charging fees for purchases outside the App Store and to turn the case over to federal prosecutors to review whether there were signs of contempt, which is also a criminal offense.
The Court of Appeal upheld Judge Gonzalez-Rogers’ contempt finding but ordered her to consider whether Apple should be “properly” compensated by developers for the use of its intellectual property; the 27% fee was deemed too high. This requires an additional hearing, which has currently been suspended for one day and may be suspended for longer in the future.
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