Stefan Mileschin

Is a 30 percent cut too high for apps?

Apple’s 30 percent cut on software distribution at its iPhones store is being looked at by the US Supreme Court today.

The nine justices will hear arguments in Apple’s bid to escape damages in a lawsuit accusing it of breaking federal antitrust laws by monopolising the market for iPhone apps and causing consumers to pay more than they should.

The justices are involved because they have to settle a broader question: Can consumers even sue for damages in an antitrust case like this one?

Apple, which is appealing a lower court decision that revived the proposed consumer class-action lawsuit, says no, citing a decades-old Supreme Court precedent.

Apple said that siding with the iPhone users who filed the lawsuit would threaten the burgeoning field of e-commerce, which generates hundreds of billions of dollars annually in US retail sales.

However, the plaintiffs, as well as antitrust watchdog groups, said that if the justices close courthouse doors to those who buy consumer products, monopolistic conduct could expand unchecked.

Sandeep Vaheesan, legal director for the Open Markets Institute, said that a lot of tech platforms would start making the argument that consumers don’t have the standing to bring antitrust suits against them.

https://fudzilla.com/news/47664-supr...nti-trust-case