// 9TO5MAC — MOBILE & WEB
Apple and Epic clash over document production in latest App Store court filing
Epic Games is accusing Apple of “manufacturing” a pause in the legal proceedings over its proposed new App Store commission rates. Apple disagrees. Here are the details.
In a joint status update, Epic Games and Apple present very different accounts of Apple’s efforts to turn over internal documents explaining how it arrived at its proposed App Store commission rates.
As a reminder, in August, Apple proposed a new commission structure for purchases made through external App Store links.
Under the proposed structure, developers would pay commissions ranging from 5% to 15%, down from the 27% fee Apple introduced in 2024 after a court ordered the company to allow developers to direct users to alternative payment methods.
The court later found Apple in contempt of its order, a designation Apple is seeking to overturn before the Supreme Court, arguing that the order never forbade it from charging any commissions at all.
While the Supreme Court considers Apple’s challenge to the contempt ruling, a lower court is separately examining whether Apple can impose commissions on purchases made through external links, and if so, how much it can charge.
Apple recently tried to pause those proceedings until the Supreme Court reached a decision, but its requests were rejected by both the lower court and the Supreme Court.
As part of that process, Apple submitted its proposed 5% to 15% commission structure in August, along with evidence supporting those rates.
Under the agreement governing the proceedings, Apple was also required to hand over internal documents showing how it arrived at those rates.
The documents are meant to give Epic an opportunity to examine the basis for Apple’s proposed fees before formally responding to the court.