Apple suffers defeat as Supreme Court allows consumers to continue with an antitrust lawsuit targeting the tech giant’s App Store
The Apple Inc. logo is displayed above a store entrance in Shanghai. By Tony Romm Tony Romm Staff writer covering technology policy Email Bio Follow May 13 at 10:46 AM Apple suffered a significant defeat at the Supreme Court on Monday, when the justices ruled that consumers could forge ahead with a lawsuit against the iPhone giant over the way it manages its App Store.
The ruling could have serious repercussions for one of Apple’s most lucrative lines of business, and open the door for similar legal action targeting other tech giants in Silicon Valley. But the court’s opinion -- led by conservative Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, who joined its liberal justices in the majority -- did not rule on the merits of the lawsuit itself.
At the heart of the case is Apple's handling of iPhone and iPad apps created by third-party developers and made available on its heavily curated App Store. Apple long has taken a commission on every paid app sold through this portal, rankling some developers that essentially see it as a tax. In response, Apple pointed to decades-old Supreme Court precedent that found only the “direct purchasers” of a service are eligible to bring such an antitrust lawsuit in the first place. The iPhone giant said it only acted as the intermediary, providing a storefront where consumers found and purchased the apps they later installed on their phones.
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