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Supreme Court Justice Pauses Lower‑Court App Store Fee Deadline for 24 Hours

The short stay gives the justices time to consider Apple’s request to halt work on a court-ordered fee schedule that could change what developers pay when users buy outside the App Store.

Overview

  • Justice Elena Kagan granted a temporary 24‑hour administrative stay that paused the district court’s deadline for Apple to file a proposed fee schedule while the Supreme Court weighs Apple’s request for a longer pause.
  • The pause follows Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers’s refusal to delay the fee proceedings and her prior order that Apple submit its proposed rates and supporting evidence on a tight timeline.
  • Apple has proposed charging developers 15 percent for standard apps, 10 percent for certain partner programs and renewals, and 5 percent for apps in its Small Business Program.
  • An appeals court upheld the contempt finding against Apple for imposing a 27 percent link-out fee but sent the case back for a district court to set a reasonable fee and noted a cost‑based approach could yield no fee.
  • The outcome will affect developer revenue and could set a U.S. reference point for platform rules worldwide and those effects will hinge on whether the Supreme Court ultimately upholds or overturns the contempt ruling.