Apple Antitrust

Brazil's antitrust regulator has ordered Apple to remove App Store restrictions on third-party payment systems and allow developers to market alternative payment options for in-app purchases. Apple has 20 days to comply or face daily fines of $43,000. The ruling by the Council for Economic Defense (Cade) comes in response to a 2022 complaint filed by MercadoLibre, Latin America's largest...

The European Commission has ended its antitrust investigation into Apple's App Store rules for ebook and audiobook apps, following the withdrawal of a complaint by an ebook distributor. Originally launched in June 2020, the investigation was sparked by a complaint from Rakuten's Kobo subsidiary. Kobo had argued that Apple's mandatory 30% commission on App Store purchases made it virtually...

Apple's restrictions on mobile browsers are limiting innovation and holding back new features that could benefit iPhone users, according to provisional findings published today by the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). In its report, the CMA's independent inquiry group determined that Apple's Safari browser policies prevent competing browsers from implementing certain features,...

Apple is facing an almost £3 billion ($3.78 billion) lawsuit after British consumer group Which? on Thursday alleged that the company breached competition law by locking millions of its customers out of its iCloud service and charging them "rip-off prices." Apple users receive 5GB of free storage to back up photos, messages, and other content, and are then encouraged to pay for the service...

A Chinese court has agreed to hear a lawsuit against Apple from Beijing Bodyreader, a developer seeking around $420,000 in damages after their children's posture correction app was removed from the App Store in 2020. Bloomberg reports that the case – the first of its kind to be heard in Beijing's intellectual property court – bears similarities to Epic Games' 2021 lawsuit against Apple....

The European Commission plans to fine Apple for not adequately complying with Digital Markets Act (DMA) requirements for the App Store, reports Bloomberg. Regulators apparently believe that Apple did not implement changes that allowed developers to steer users to cheaper prices outside of the ‌App Store‌. Back in June, the EU said that Apple was in breach of the DMA due to its anti-steering...

The European Union today issued a warning to Apple, demanding that the tech giant open up its iOS operating system to rival companies and third-party developers or potentially face significant fines. The move is part of the EU's efforts to enforce the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which aims to ensure fair competition in the digital marketplace. The European Commission has initiated two...

Update: Apple told MacRumors that Open Web Advocacy's allegation that Apple is misleading the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is inaccurate. Apple says it told the CMA that the design of the identified browser setting was changed in a recent software update. The design was apparently never intended to discourage users from setting third-party browsers as the default. Apple faces...

The UK's Competition and Market Authority (CMA) today announced it had closed an investigation into Apple's App Store policies, as it expects to consider the concerns under a new digital markets competition regime which is expected to come into force later this year. Originally initiated in March 2021, the CMA's investigation set out to determine whether or not Apple has a dominant position...

Spotify says it has received approval from Apple to display pricing information in its iOS app for users in the European Union, following its years-long legal struggle with the company. Spotify says that from Wednesday, iPhone users in the EU will be informed of pricing information in the app and the fact that they can go to the company's website to purchase items directly. "EU iPhone...

India's Competition Commission has recalled two investigative reports accusing Apple of antitrust violations after the company raised concerns about the disclosure of confidential commercial information (via Reuters). The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has withdrawn two key reports that alleged Apple breached local competition laws. The recall, which is highly unusual, comes after the ...

Apple today filed a motion to dismiss its ongoing lawsuit with the United States Department of Justice, a standard step in the litigation process. In its motion to dismiss, Apple argues that the government's complaint has not demonstrated anticompetitive conduct, anticompetitive effect that harms consumers, or that Apple is a monopoly power in the U.S. smartphone market. The government needs to...

Spain's competition authority has launched an investigation into Apple's App Store over potential anti-competitive practices that could result in hefty fines (via Reuters). The National Commission of Markets and Competition (CNMC) this week announced a probe into the ‌App Store‌, citing concerns that the company might be imposing unfair trading conditions on developers who distribute their...

The European Commission has formally announced its preliminary view that Apple's App Store policies are in breach of the Digital Markets Act (DMA), specifically in relation to anti-steering rules. Under the DMA, developers distributing their apps via Apple's ‌App Store‌ should be able, free of charge, to inform their customers of alternative cheaper purchasing possibilities, steer them to...

Apple, Google, and Amazon are urging India to reconsider its proposed Digital Competition Bill, citing concerns over increased user costs and potential reductions in investment (via Reuters). A U.S. lobby group representing major technology companies has asked the Indian government to rethink the proposed legislation that closely mirrors the European Union's Digital Markets Act. The request...

Apple today filed a pre-motion letter seeking to dismiss the antitrust case that the United States Department of Justice (DoJ) levied against Apple back in March. In the pre-motion letter, Apple says that the government's lawsuit is flawed in multiple ways, and has not successfully alleged that Apple is a monopoly power in the relevant market, proven anticompetitive conduct, or demonstrated...

Apple is challenging a $1.95 billion fine imposed by the European Commission for thwarting fair competition from music-streaming rivals, including Spotify (via Bloomberg). The Commission fined Apple in March, saying that the company abused its dominant position in the market by forbidding music streaming apps to tell users about cheaper subscription prices outside the app. The EU...

With Apple soon to be required to bring the same EU changes that it made on the iPhone to the iPad, Epic Games today confirmed that it will release Fortnite for the ‌iPad‌ in the future. ‌Epic Games‌ is already working to release an ‌iPhone‌ version of Fortnite in the EU, with the game set to be available from the forthcoming ‌Epic Games‌ Store, an alternative app marketplace. The ‌iPhone‌...

A lawsuit targeting Apple's refusal to allow apps to support cryptocurrency transactions was today tossed out by a San Francisco judge, reports Reuters. The lawsuit, which was filed by Venmo and Cash App customers, claimed that Apple drove up the fees charged by Venmo and Cash App by not letting payment apps facilitate cryptocurrency transactions. The plaintiffs alleged that Apple curbed...

Apple's compliance with new EU laws designed to rein in the market power of big tech companies is set to be investigated by regulators, the European Commission has announced. The Commission said on Monday that non-compliance investigations have been opened against Apple, Google, and Meta, under the new Digital Markets Act (DMA). The probe into Apple will look at whether the company...