Appeals Court Says Judge Must Consider Allowing Apple to Collect Commission

A federal appeals court handed Apple a victory and a loss in the company’s long-running legal battle with Epic Games.

The court ruled that a district court judge must consider allowing Apple to collect a commission on transactions made outside its App Store, though not the 27% commission it used to charge, Bloomberg reported Thursday (Dec. 11).

The district court banned all commissions, “abusing its discretion,” the appeals court said in its ruling, according to the report.

The appeals court also rejected Apple’s challenge to a judge’s ruling in April that the company defied an order having to do with a finding that it engaged in anticompetitive conduct, per the report.

In the April ruling the judge said Apple deliberately ignored her 2021 order to allow developers to direct consumers to other payment options outside the App Store, according to the report.

An April 30 court ruling in the long legal battle brought by Epic Games required Apple to allow third-party payment options within its App Store.

While Apple defeated most of the original claims in the 2021 case, the court mandated that it loosen its restrictions and allow developers to direct users to third-party payment methods — and a judge said April 30 that Apple had deliberately circumvented that order.

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney said on the day of the court ruling that the company would return its game Fortnite to the U.S. iOS App Store the following week.

In a Thursday post on X, Sweeney said: “After returning to the US App Store in May, Fortnite has become the #2 most downloaded US iOS game of 2025. Thanks to everyone who has played it, and thanks to the District Court for opening up iOS to fair competition in payments!”

It was reported in November that Epic Games and Google reached an accord in a years-long antitrust battle involving the way developers distribute and monetize apps on Google’s Android phones.

In another Thursday post on X, Sweeney said: “Fortnite is back on Android through Google Play in the USA, and will continue to be available through Epic Games Store on Android worldwide. Thanks to Google for all of their awesome support; this is the beginning of a new, open world of mobile gaming!”