A United Kingdom judge refused to toss out a $1 billion lawsuit against Apple by a coalition of developers over App Store fees. The lawsuit alleges that Apple’s 30 percent commission fee for App Store transactions is unfair and that the company is abusing its position in the market (via Reuters).
The group of UK-based developers is seeking $979 million (£785 million) in damages from Apple over its allegedly unfair App Store fees. The lawsuit, originally filed last year with the UK’s Competition Appeal Tribunal, is led by Sean Ennis, a competition law professor at the University of East Anglia. Like many antitrust cases Apple faces worldwide, Ennis alleges that the company is abusing its dominant position as the sole authority over the App Store.
There are over 1,500 developers represented in the lawsuit. However, Apple continues to claim in its defense that as many as 85 percent of all developers have not had to pay any App Store fees as a commission whatsoever. Apple’s lawyer in January further argued that the lawsuit should only be valid over UK App Store transactions, noting that it’s not enough for developers to be based in the country.
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However, Judge Andrew Lenon has rejected Apple’s latest advancement today and has instead sided with Ennis and his bloc of developers. Judge Lenon believes that App Store fees affect UK developers even if some transactions are processed outside the UK and as such, the lawsuit can go forward.
Apple’s overcharging of commission to app developers based in the UK in relation to commerce transacted on non-UK storefronts did amount to conduct implemented in the UK.
Judge Andrew Lenon
Apple introduced massive reforms to the iPhone’s app ecosystem with iOS 17.4 for users based in the European Union under the Digital Markets Act (DMA). Part of the changes will see Apple collect lower App Store fees from developers that use the App Store billing system. However, developers and users in the United Kingdom will not benefit from those changes since the country is no longer part of the Union following its “Brexit” withdrawal in 2020.
