--- title: "Epic asks Supreme Court to uphold ban on Apple's 27% fee as Apple trades at 37 times 2027 earnings" description: "Epic's November 13 brief defends the contempt ruling that bars Apple's 27% external-purchase fee. It lands on a stock Wall Street just crowned the \"safe Costco of tech\" at a record 37 times earnings." publisher: "The Inference" section: "Policy & Labor" published: 2026-11-14T14:08:14.310Z modified: 2026-11-14T14:08:14.310Z canonical: https://theinference.org/article/epic-asks-supreme-court-to-uphold-ban-on-apple-s-27-fee-as-apple-trades-at-37-times-2027-earnings language: en keywords: "Apple, Epic Games, App Store, Antitrust, Supreme Court" --- # Epic asks Supreme Court to uphold ban on Apple's 27% fee as Apple trades at 37 times 2027 earnings > Epic's November 13 brief defends the contempt ruling that bars Apple's 27% external-purchase fee. It lands on a stock Wall Street just crowned the "safe Costco of tech" at a record 37 times earnings. ## Epic's brief puts numbers on the workaround Six years after [Apple](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/apple) pulled Fortnite from the App Store over a hidden payment button, Epic Games filed [its Supreme Court response on November 13](https://9to5mac.com/2026/11/13/epic-formally-asks-scotus-to-uphold-contempt-ruling-against-apple/), urging the justices to uphold the civil contempt ruling against Apple's payment rules [1]. The brief puts the fee fight in hard numbers. Apple set a 27% commission on external-link purchases knowing developers' payment processing costs run more than 3%, Epic argues, so buying outside the store cost more than Apple's 30% in-app rate; Epic quotes an Apple executive conceding every "linked-out transaction is going to be more expensive to any developer" than a 30% in-app sale [1]. Apple also asserted privilege over more than 57,000 documents and commissioned an economic study Epic calls a "sham" [1]. ## A judge found Apple's finance vice president lied under oath The judge below, Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers of the Northern District of California, found Apple finance vice president Alex Roman "outright lied under oath" about when the rate was decided, and referred him and the company to federal prosecutors [1][4]. ## A record multiple resting on an unsettled fee The filing landed the week Bernstein crowned Apple the safe "[Costco](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/costco) of tech": an outperform rating, a $380 target, 37 times expected 2027 earnings, an all-time-high multiple, built on capex under 2% of revenue and 90% iPhone retention, about equal to Costco's membership renewal rate [2]. That safe-haven story prices an App Store in legal limbo. Since [the April 30, 2025, contempt order](https://www.techtimes.com/articles/327527/20260915/app-store-commission-limbo-enters-new-phase-as-apples-epic-merits-brief-opens-scotus-fight.htm), Apple has been barred from charging anything on US link-out purchases, a zero that stands for the store's 1.4 million registered developers while the Supreme Court decides [3][4]. *Chart: **Apple at 37x forward earnings trades inside the premium-retailer club** Bar chart of forward price-to-earnings: Costco 46, Walmart 39, Apple 37, General Electric 36* *Forward price-to-earnings, November 2026; companies above $200B market cap with consensus EPS growth under 15%, per Bernstein via CNBC. [2]* ## The engine accelerated while the fee sat at zero Apple's own ledger is the counterpoint. Revenue growth ran near 4% in the December 2024 quarter and about 16% by March 2026, and fiscal 2026 closed at a record $479 billion, with September-quarter revenue of $114.5 billion and Services at an all-time high [5][6]. The US government split the difference too, backing contempt over Apple's link restrictions while arguing the 75-word injunction never clearly barred a commission [1][4]. The Ninth Circuit kept the contempt finding in December 2025 but allowed only fees "genuinely and reasonably necessary" [4]. *Chart: **Apple's revenue accelerated through the zero-commission window** Line chart of Apple quarterly revenue from mid-2024 through the September 2026 quarter, rising from about $86 billion to $114.5 billion* *Quarterly revenue by calendar quarter, USD billions, from Apple's SEC filings. [6]* ## January 11 counts the ballots Apple's reply is due December 14, oral argument is set for January 11, 2027, and a ruling should land by June [1][3]. After that, Judge Gonzalez Rogers still has to set what fee, if any, Apple may charge [4]. At 37 times earnings, the market has already decided this fight doesn't matter; January 11 counts the ballots [4]. ## Takeaway Apple charges a record multiple on an App Store whose US link-out fee is currently zero, and Epic's brief asks the justices to keep it that way; January 11 is the market's next test of whether the legal limbo matters. ## Sources 1. [9to5Mac, "Epic formally asks SCOTUS to uphold contempt ruling against Apple", 13 November 2026](https://9to5mac.com/2026/11/13/epic-formally-asks-scotus-to-uphold-contempt-ruling-against-apple/) 2. [CNBC, "How Apple became the safe 'Costco' of tech. Bernstein says keep buying", 13 November 2026](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/11/13/how-apple-became-the-safe-costco-of-tech-bernstein-says-keep-buying.html) 3. [AndroidPure, "Epic Answers Apple at the Supreme Court Ahead of January 11 Hearing", 14 November 2026](https://www.androidpure.com/epic-supreme-court-brief-apple/) 4. [TechTimes, "App Store Commission Limbo Enters New Phase as Apple's Epic Merits Brief Opens SCOTUS Fight", 15 September 2026](https://www.techtimes.com/articles/327527/20260915/app-store-commission-limbo-enters-new-phase-as-apples-epic-merits-brief-opens-scotus-fight.htm) 5. [Apple Newsroom, "Apple reports fourth quarter results", 2 November 2026](https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2026/11/apple-reports-fourth-quarter-results/) 6. [Apple quarterly figures from its SEC filings, retrieved 14 November 2026](https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0000320193) --- Epic asks Supreme Court to uphold ban on Apple's 27% fee as Apple trades at 37 times 2027 earnings — The Inference. Canonical: https://theinference.org/article/epic-asks-supreme-court-to-uphold-ban-on-apple-s-27-fee-as-apple-trades-at-37-times-2027-earnings