Epic says Apple has produced 55 documents on its App Store fee proposal. Apple offers 1 and 25 NovemberEpic says Apple has produced 55 documents on its App Store fee proposal. Apple offers 1 and 25 November

Epic Games and Apple have told the court they disagree over how quickly Apple must hand over the documents behind its proposed App Store link-out commission.

The joint status report was filed on 9 October in Epic Games v. Apple, case 4:20-cv-05640-YGR, before Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in the Northern District of California. Each side wrote its own section. It reached the Apple press on 12 October, when 9to5Mac published the filing.

What is the dispute about?

The case is back in the district court because an appeals court ruled that Apple may charge a commission on purchases made through links out of US apps, but only at a rate the court approves. That ruling restored Apple's ability to charge on external payment links in December 2025. Apple filed its proposal, which the parties call the proffer, on 13 August, and it asked for up to 15 per cent on link-out purchases.

Under an order of 20 May, Apple had to produce every non-privileged document about how it reached that proposal by 24 August. Epic's 60 day clock to respond has not started, and both sides agree on that.

What Epic says

• Apple has produced 55 responsive documents, 16 of them moderately or heavily redacted, and lists 15 as withheld for privilege.
• The 34 documents produced on 24 August were largely calendar invitations, court filings and redacted material, with no substantive emails or business analyses.
• Apple says four people set the rates: Tim Cook, Kevan Parekh, Eddy Cue and Carson Oliver. Epic calls that narrow scope a litigation construct.
• Apple wants to exclude documents on link-out commissions outside the US, which Epic says shaped the US figure.

Epic asks the judge to order rolling production, finished by 1 November, using its own definition of the relevant people and covering link-out fees worldwide. It accuses Apple of creating "a de facto stay" by prolonging discovery.

What Apple says

Apple says it has agreed to all 16 of Epic's document requests, all 27 custodians Epic named and Epic's own search terms, while keeping objections on the record. It expects to substantially complete production for the seven people in Epic's definition by 1 November and for the other custodians by 25 November, the day before US Thanksgiving. It notes that one custodian is on maternity leave.

Apple says Epic first raised 1 November in its draft of the report, after earlier proposing Thanksgiving. It points to its 13 August production of data covering billions of US App Store transactions and 2.1 million apps. It also offers foreign link-out documents without geographic limits for the four decision makers. The parties will update the court again in two weeks.

Our take

Strip away the language and the gap between the two sides is 24 days. Apple's own dates now include 1 November for the people who matter most, which Epic admits is progress. The judge is being asked to turn Apple's "anticipates being in a position to" into an order, and to settle whether rates Apple set in Europe, Japan or the UK belong in a US proceeding.

That second question matters more than the calendar. Apple's case is that the US figure came from four executives and outside economists working within the appeals court's limits. Epic's case is that a company running link-out commissions in several jurisdictions does not price one of them in a sealed room. Whoever wins that argument decides how much of Apple's internal reasoning the court gets to see.

The timing explains the heat. The Supreme Court agreed on 30 June to hear Apple's appeal, but only on whether a court can find contempt for breaching an injunction's spirit. It does not cover the commission itself, and Justice Kagan refused to pause this remand on 13 August. Epic's Supreme Court brief is due on 13 November. APPDOOK's reading is that every week of discovery is a week in which the remand cannot reach a rate before the Supreme Court rules, which is why Epic is pressing so hard over dates that are only weeks apart.

For developers, nothing changes yet. The rate Apple can charge on US link-outs will not be set until this discovery ends, Epic responds and the court rules, and on Apple's own timetable the first of those steps runs past Thanksgiving.