Supreme Court rebuffs Apple's appeal on app payments, threatening billions in revenue

Source: Associated Press

Supreme Court rebuffs Apple’s appeal on app payments, threatening billions in revenue

BY MARK SHERMAN AND MICHAEL LIEDTKE
Updated 8:21 PM EST, January 16, 2024

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed a court order to take effect that could loosen Apple’s grip on its lucrative iPhone app store, threatening to siphon billions of dollars away from one of the world’s most profitable companies.,

The justices rejected Apple’s appeal of lower-court rulings that found some of Apple’s app store rules for apps purchased on more than 1 billion iPhones constitute unfair competition under California law.

Apple outlined in court documents filed late Tuesday how it plans to change in-app payments, while indicating it will preserve most of the fees it collects from developers who make money from their services provided on iPhones and iPads. The proposal provoked claims that Apple is acting in bad faith and set the stage for more legal sparring.

The rejected appeal to the Supreme Court stemmed from an antitrust lawsuit filed in 2020 by Epic Games, maker of the popular Fortnite video game. Epic lost its broader claim that Cupertino, California-based Apple was violating federal antitrust law, and the justices also rejected Epic’s appeal Tuesday.

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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-apple-epic-fortnite-antitrust-iphone-c412553d88f8798acd7d5e1cbb5826bc