proffer for – Apple and Epic have agreed on a detailed pre-court schedule for how they will submit new fee proposals tied to outbound links as their App Store legal fight moves back through the District Court.
Apple and Epic are heading back into the District Court to keep pushing their long-running legal fight, but first the companies have staked out the rules for how new App Store fee proposals will be exchanged.
The scheduling comes after the May 6 decision by the Supreme Court to decline Apple’s request for a stay on the mandate requiring the companies to meet Epic Games to negotiate a new commission rate.. With that request rejected. more courtroom steps are expected in the coming months. and the parties have now laid out a multi-point plan.
In a joint filing to the U.S.. District Court for the Northern District of California on May 15. Apple was given 45 days to file with the court a “proffer” — a good-faith offer of evidence. testimony. documents. or some form of evidence.. That proffer must propose commissions for any “linked-out purchases. ” backed by supportive evidence. in a document that can be up to 30 pages long.
Up to ten days after Apple files its proffer, Apple will provide Epic with all non-privileged documents about the decision-making process used to create the proffer’s proposal. The package includes fee proposals and a privilege log.
Within five days of receiving the privilege log materials. Apple and Epic will meet to discuss the privilege log and whether Epic needs additional material to evaluate Apple’s proposal.. Epic can then designate up to 10% of the documents listed on that privilege log for further review by a third party.
From there, the timeline tightens into additional filings.. Within 60 days from whichever comes later — Apple’s proffer filing or Apple’s completion of document production — Epic will file its own response to Apple’s proffer.. Epic’s response can also be up to 30 pages. and if Epic objects. the objection must include evidence supporting the move.
After that, Apple has another 30 days to file a reply, though that submission is capped at 15 pages.. Once the last stage in the schedule is finished. the court can hold a status conference or decide any further proceedings.. Based on parties using the last possible moments at each step. it could take 150 days. or about five months. before the court schedules another meeting.
The fight itself stretches back six years, beginning when “Fortnite” allowed players to make in-app purchases using a third-party payment processor. Epic also pushed demands beyond the payments mechanism, including allowing alternate app storefronts in iOS and changes to the commission structure.
For the most part, Apple prevailed against Epic in earlier phases of the dispute. But the court found against Apple’s anti-steering measures, which prevented developers from directing users to other ways to pay. Apple was ordered to make changes, and it claimed it did.
Epic, in response, argued Apple didn’t follow the spirit of the law, and it persuaded a court in April 2025 to adopt its view. The court characterized Apple’s actions as a “gross miscalculation” of acceptability.
The pattern in the next phase is tied tightly to that dispute: the Supreme Court’s May 6 refusal to pause the mandate sets the pace. and the May 15 joint filing translates the fee negotiation into steps with hard deadlines — Apple’s 45-day proffer. document production tied to a privilege log. Epic’s response within 60 days after the later of two triggers. and then Apple’s final reply.
For developers and platform-watchers. the stakes are in the details of what gets negotiated and how quickly the paper trail moves back through the Northern District of California.. With the exchange structured in weeks and page limits. Apple and Epic are trying to turn a contentious mandate into a process the court can evaluate — even as the underlying disagreement over what “acceptability” requires remains fresh.
Apple Epic Games App Store fees outbound links proffer District Court Northern District of California Supreme Court commission rate privilege log linked-out purchases