GoKawiilApple and Epic Games have agreed to ask the court to temporarily postpone key deadlines in their long-running App Store dispute while Apple seeks to pause the proceedings until the Supreme Court rules on its appeal. Here are the details.
A bit of background
Earlier this week, the US Supreme Court agreed to hear part of Apple’s appeal in its long-running legal battle with Epic Games over App Store rules.
Apple had asked the Court to review two issues. The first was whether it could be held in contempt for imposing commissions on purchases made through external links, even though the original injunction did not explicitly prohibit those fees. The second concerned whether the injunction could apply broadly to all developers rather than only to Epic.
The Supreme Court agreed to consider the contempt question, but declined to review the broader scope of the injunction.
Meanwhile, the district court was preparing to reconsider the rules governing what commission, if any, Apple could charge on purchases made through external links.
Apple previously asked the Supreme Court to stay the appeals court’s mandate pending review, which would have prevented the lower court’s remand proceedings from proceeding. Justice Elena Kagan denied that request.
That left the Supreme Court case and the district court’s remand proceedings on track to move forward simultaneously.
Under the district court’s schedule, Apple was due to file a proposal by July 6 explaining how it planned to implement the Ninth Circuit’s ruling, including any proposed fee structure. Apple would then have until July 16 to produce related nonprivileged documents. Epic’s response would be due within 60 days of the later of those two steps, followed by 30 days for Apple’s reply.
Which brings us to today.
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