British developers have been told that their billion dollar class action lawsuit against Apple can proceed, after the iPhone maker failed in its second bid to have the case dismissed.
Developers behind the antitrust case are seeking repayment of up to £785M ($995M) in commission on apps, in the latest move against Apple’s monopoly on the sale of iPhone apps …
Follows antitrust cases in the EU and US
The core argument here is that, until recently, the only way a developer could sell an iPhone app was through the official App Store. This gave Apple monopolistic powers over the same of iOS apps, and allowed the company to set its own commission levels which developers were forced to accept.
The most dramatic change happened in the EU, where the Digital Markets Act required Apple to allow iPhone and iPad apps to be sold through third-party app stores. Apple did its best to make this option as unattractive as possible for developers in what has been described as an act of malicious compliance, and it’s likely that it will be forced to change its terms, but the law did at least mean that the principle was established.
In the US, Apple suffered a smaller loss, when a case brought by Epic Games resulted in the company being told that it must allow developers to link to alternative ways of purchasing in-app content. The company again complied in a way that would protect its commissions, and the judge in this case has indicated that Apple is likely to be found in breach of her ruling.
Class action lawsuit against Apple will proceed
A class action lawsuit was last year filed against Apple in the UK on behalf of 1,566 British app developers, also arguing that Apple’s monopoly on iPhone apps forced them to accept unreasonable levels of commission. The suit has since been extended to representing some 13,000 developers.
Apple twice attempted to block the lawsuit. The first attempt asked the judge to dismiss the case on the basis that a British court should not have jurisdiction on commissions charged on app sales made outside the UK. That argument was rejected earlier this year.
The Cupertino company subsequently took the matter to the UK’s Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT), asking it to block the case. Bloomberg reports that the CAT has now rejected this request.
The iPhone maker could be on the hook for repaying as much as £785 million in fees to as many as 13,000 developers, according to UK competition policy professor Sean Ennis, who’s leading the claim. Judges at the UK’s Competition Appeal Tribunal paved the way for the suit to continue after dismissing the US firm’s arguments to block the case.
Ennis is well placed to make the case, having previously held positions in both the European Commission and US Department of Justice.
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