Apple Inc. AAPL has requested a U.K. tribunal to dismiss a lawsuit worth close to $1 billion. The lawsuit, brought forth by over 1,500 app developers, alleges that Cupertino imposes unfair App Store charges.
What Happened: Apple’s appeal was submitted to a London tribunal on Tuesday, seeking to reject the hefty lawsuit. The developers accuse Apple of unfairly charging a commission of up to 30% on app and content purchases, reported Reuters.
Sean Ennis, a competition law professor and former OECD economist, leads the case. His team contends that Apple’s market dominance in app distribution on its devices has resulted in harm to U.K.-based developers.
Apple’s legal counsel, Daniel Piccinin, counters the allegations, stating that 85% of App Store developers are not subject to any commission fees. He further argued that U.K.-based claims would only hold weight if they pertained to purchases made via the U.K. App Store, which only a small subset of the claimants have done.
In contrast, Ennis’ legal representation, Paul Stanley, maintains that the entire case falls under U.K. law due to Apple’s overcharging of U.K. businesses.
Why It Matters: This legal tussle is part of a series of lawsuits that Apple is currently grappling with in the U.K. Notably, Apple is also dealing with a mass lawsuit, approved in 2022, over App Store commissions on behalf of around 20 million U.K. users.
Another case, involving about 24 million iPhone users and concerning allegedly faulty iPhone batteries, was certified last year. Neither of these cases are expected to go to trial before 2025.
The current lawsuit follows a series of events that have put Apple’s App Store policies under scrutiny. Earlier in January, Apple’s revised App Store payment policies drew criticism and sparked potential legal disputes.
This development came shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Apple’s appeal in an antitrust lawsuit concerning its App Store.
Earlier this week, it was reported that Apple has settled a $13.7 million fine with Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service over alleged abuse of its dominant market position.
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