Supreme Court gives Apple a brief pause in App Store fee fight

The Supreme Court stepped in Wednesday to give Apple a short breather in its long-running legal battle with Epic Games over App Store fees. Justice Elena Kagan granted a temporary stay, pausing lower-court proceedings until 5 p.m. Thursday while the court considers whether to issue a longer hold.

The dispute centers on what commission, if any, Apple can charge on purchases made outside its App Store. A California federal judge, Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, had originally issued an injunction requiring Apple to let developers direct users to alternative payment methods. Apple complied but imposed a 27 percent commission on those external purchases, and Gonzalez Rogers later found the company in contempt.

The Supreme Court agreed to review that contempt ruling. But the case is also moving forward in the lower court, where Gonzalez Rogers will determine the allowable commission rate. She rejected Apple's request to pause those proceedings and gave the company until 5 p.m. Wednesday to submit its proposed fee and supporting evidence.

Apple then filed an emergency request with the Supreme Court, which Bloomberg reported Kagan granted on a temporary basis. The administrative stay buys the high court time to decide whether to grant a longer hold on the fee proceedings while it reviews the contempt case.

If the Supreme Court grants a longer stay, the lower-court fight over Apple's commission rate would be shelved until the justices rule on the contempt finding. A decision on the longer stay could come as soon as Thursday.