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A class action lawsuit filed by app developers accuses Apple of monopolizing app distribution on its devices.
This Apple class action lawsuit comes on the heels of a Supreme Court decision saying that app users could directly sue Apple over its practices relating to the company’s apps.
The app developers’ class action lawsuit claims that Apple effectively maintains a monopoly over what apps can be uploaded onto its devices via the App Store.
Allegedly, Apple takes a “supracompetitive” 30 percent commission fee from developers to have their apps in the App Store, and charges them a commission fee.
The app developers also take issue with other pricing restrictions in addition to these terms. They claim that Apple has unfairly reduced the developers’ profits and have limited innovation.
The Apple class action states that Apple has used its power in the market to “cut unlawfully into what would have been developers’ earnings in a competitive landscape.”
Allegedly, if the market were truly competitive and not monopolized by Apple, the developers would have been able to make more money off of their apps.
According to the Apple class action lawsuit, the only way developers can sell apps to iPhone users is via the App Store. The developers say this model has “barred the door” to competitors who would otherwise sell apps to iPhone users.
The developers go on to say that Apple monopolizes the iPhone app market under the “thinnest of pretenses — that somehow it is uniquely qualified to ensure the safety and device-compatibility of apps.”
Allegedly, this pretense is not the case, and is a misrepresentation. The developers go on to argue that “there is no reason to believe that other reputable vendors, including Amazon, for example, could not host an app store and provide a trustworthy app-distribution system if Apple were to open up its system to other providers.”
The Apple class action lawsuit also takes issue with restrictions that Apple places on the prices of the apps. Allegedly, app developers are prevented from charging less than 99 cents for an app.
Additionally, the developers note that Apple takes a 30 percent commission off the wholesale price of the apps, while restricting the prices that developers can charge.
Recently, consumers filed a class action lawsuit taking issue with Apple’s alleged monopoly over the apps available on the iPhone. The Supreme Court determined that consumers could indeed file antitrust claims against Apple, because they are direct consumers.
In contrast to this decision, the developers say that they are the “proper plaintiffs in a suit regarding [Apple’s] iOS distribution-service fees,” based on a decision made in a previous case.
The developers are represented by Shana E. Scarlett, Steve W. Berman and Robert F. Lopez of Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP.
The Apple App Store Monopoly Class Action Lawsuit is Cameron, et al. v. Apple Inc., Case No. 5:19-cv-03074, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
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