Trial over Apple App Store ‘surcharge’ opens in UK
AFP | London
Email : editor@newsofbahrain.com
Apple was accused yesterday of abusing the dominant position of its app store at the start of a court trial in the UK, with plaintiffs seeking £1.5 billion pounds ($1.8 billion) in damages.
The complaint, filed in May 2021, accuses Apple of breaching European and UK competition laws by “its exclusion of any other app stores from iOS devices” like iPhones and iPads.
The case, which Apple has called “meritless”, has been brought by Kings College London academic Rachael Kent and the law firm Hausfeld & Co.
At the opening of the trial, the plaintiff’s lawyer Mark Hoskins outlined that the case is being brought by Kent “on behalf of all iOS mobile device users”.
“By virtue of its terms and conditions, Apple has excluded all competition,” he said, outlying the issue at the centre of the case.
The complaint claims that some 20 million Apple users may have been overcharged by the company “due to its ban on rival app store platforms”.
The complainants said a “30 percent surcharge” that the company “imposes” on apps purchased through Apple’s App Store comes at “expense of ordinary consumers”.
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