Apple proposes 15% App Store fee, seeks epic talks

Apple is making two moves at once in its long-running legal battle with Epic Games: proposing a new commission structure for purchases made outside the App Store and asking a judge to push both companies toward the negotiating table.

Apple submitted a filing setting commissions of up to 15% on purchases completed through alternative payment systems in the US. The proposal follows a period in which Apple charged a 27% commission on the same transactions, a rate Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers found to be in violation of a prior court order requiring Apple to let developers direct users to outside payment methods.

Epic Games responded quickly, arguing the proposed fees remain "far outside of the bounds" of what the Ninth Circuit has indicated is permissible.

The commission filing landed the same day the Supreme Court rejected Apple's bid to pause the lower-court proceedings while it separately reviews Gonzalez Rogers' contempt finding.

That refusal keeps the fee-setting process moving in the district court regardless of how the higher court eventually rules on the contempt question.

Apple, meanwhile, requested another motion asking the court to direct both parties to attend a settlement conference with Magistrate Judge Joseph C. Spero. Apple had proposed this to Epic’s attorneys on August 11, but Epic refused to agree to it.

Apple claims the court can still compel the conference despite that fact since the Ninth Circuit itself has invited both parties to reach an agreement for a link-out commission.

According to Apple, a confidential meeting might resolve the issue without extending the remand proceedings. The filing does not contain any settlement terms; it only requests a court order for the conference.