The Supreme Court has scheduled oral arguments in Apple's appeal in its long-running dispute with Epic Games for Monday, January 11, 2027, according to the court's docket, as reported by 9to5Mac.
The justices agreed to take up the case in June 2026. They will review a narrow question: whether Apple can be held in civil contempt for violating the "spirit" of an injunction when the order's text does not specifically prohibit the conduct in question. The court will not decide how much Apple may charge for purchases made outside the App Store. That commission question is being handled separately by the district court.
How the case got here
Epic sued Apple in 2020 after Fortnite was removed from the App Store for offering its own in-app payment system through a remotely activated update. In 2021, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ruled for Apple on nine of Epic's ten claims, but found that Apple could no longer stop developers from pointing users to outside payment options.
Apple responded by allowing external purchase links while charging a commission of up to 27 percent on those transactions and limiting how the links could be displayed. In April 2025, the district court found Apple in civil contempt of the original injunction and ordered it to remove those restrictions and stop charging commissions on outside purchases. In December 2025, the Ninth Circuit overturned the blanket ban on commissions. Apple currently lets developers in the United States direct users to external payment options without a commission while it continues to challenge the contempt ruling.
What each side argues
In its September 2026 brief, Apple argues that the contempt finding should be reversed because the injunction did not explicitly bar commissions on outside purchases, and that civil contempt requires an order to clearly prohibit the conduct. The U.S. Department of Justice and other groups have filed briefs supporting at least part of Apple's argument.
The Justice Department also argued, however, that the lower courts were right to find contempt over some of the link restrictions, including a requirement that developers use what Apple called "plain buttons," which could not have contrasting backgrounds.
What comes next
Epic Games' response brief is due November 13, 2026, and Apple's reply brief is due December 14, 2026, per the report. Oral arguments follow on January 11, 2027, and a ruling would typically come after that.
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