* Judge found Apple ( AAPL ) in contempt in Epic antitrust lawsuit

* "Fortnite" maker Epic's lawsuit contested App Store fees

By Mike Scarcella

WASHINGTON, June 30 (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court

agreed on Tuesday to hear Apple's ( AAPL ) bid to escape being

found in contempt in its legal fight with "Fortnite" maker Epic

Games after the iPhone maker was deemed in violation of a

judicial order mandating sweeping changes to its lucrative App

Store in the antitrust litigation.

The justices took up Apple's ( AAPL ) appeal of a lower court's

ruling upholding a decision by Oakland, California-based U.S.

District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers finding Apple ( AAPL ) in contempt

in Epic's 2020 lawsuit contesting App Store fees.

The Supreme Court is expected to hear the case in its next

term, which begins in October.

The lawsuit by Cary, North Carolina-based Epic Games

challenged Apple's ( AAPL ) control over transactions in applications

that use the company's iOS operating system and its restrictions

on how apps are distributed to consumers.

Apple ( AAPL ) and Epic have clashed for years over the rules governing

Apple's ( AAPL ) App Store. The contempt ruling and the scope of Apple's ( AAPL )

court-ordered obligations are the latest issues in the dispute

to reach the Supreme Court. Apple ( AAPL ) has said the legal issues in

the litigation will affect how millions of app purchases are

made.

Cupertino, California-based Apple ( AAPL ) mostly defeated Epic's

lawsuit, but was required in a 2021 injunction issued by Rogers

to let developers include links in their apps directing users to

non-Apple ( AAPL ) payment methods.

Apple ( AAPL ) allowed the links but adopted new restrictions,

including a 27% commission on developers for purchases made on

payment systems outside the App Store within seven days of

clicking a link. Apple ( AAPL ) charges developers a 30% commission for

purchases within the App Store.

Epic argued that the new 27% commission flouted the earlier

injunction. In 2025, Rogers found Apple ( AAPL ) in civil contempt for

violating the injunction.

The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in

December upheld the judge's contempt finding but let Apple ( AAPL ) make

new arguments about what commission it should be allowed to

charge for digital goods bought in apps distributed through the

App Store but paid for using third-party systems.

That new effort has not yet begun in the district court in

Oakland.

Apple ( AAPL ) has denied violating the judge's order and argued to

the Supreme Court that the injunction should not be applied to

millions of developers beyond Epic Games.

"Regulators around the world are watching this case to

determine what commission rate Apple ( AAPL ) may charge on covered

purchases in huge markets outside the United States," Apple ( AAPL ) told

the Supreme Court in a filing.