As Reuters reported Monday (Aug. 1), the plaintiffs in the
proposed class-action case include Société du Figaro, which created the Figaro
news app; L'Équipe 24/24, of the L'Équipe sports news and streaming app, and Le
Geste, a consortium of French content providers.
“There is no valid business necessity or pro-competitive
justification for Apple’s conduct,” the complaint said. “Instead, Apple’s
actions are designed to destroy competition.”
Apple did not immediately reply to requests for comment
Monday afternoon.
According to Reuters, the complaint, filed in federal court
in Oakland, California, seeks an injunction against further anticompetitive
action, as well as triple damages for violating federal antitrust law and
California state laws.
Reuters said the plaintiffs are represented by the U.S. law
firm Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro, and Parisian firm Fayrouze Masmi-Dazi.
Hagens Berman won a $100 million settlement from Apple on
behalf of U.S. app developers in August 2021.
Last month, Hagens Berman filed another class-action suit
against Apple, accusing the company of violating antitrust rules by using its
Apple Pay to illegally profit from payment card issuers to the tune of $1
billion a year.
“In the Android ecosystem, where multiple digital wallets
compete, there are no issuer fees whatsoever, ” said the complaint, which was
filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. “The
upshot is that card issuers pay a reported $1 billion annually in fees on Apple
Pay and $0 for accessing functionally identical Android wallets. If Apple faced
competition, it could not sustain these substantial fees.”
Apple App Store rules have been criticized by regulators
around the world. The Netherlands has levied millions of dollars in fines
against the company for failing to comply with a 2021 order to adjust the
conditions in the store to let dating apps offer alternative payment methods.
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