Apple Asks For Mass Lawsuits Worth IDR 15.6 Trillion To Be Rejected By London Court. Regarding App Store Fees

Apple is accused of imposing an unfair commission on third-party developers (photo: dock. pexels)

JAKARTA - On Tuesday, January 23, Apple filed a request to a stands in London to reject a mass lawsuit worth around $1 billion filed on behalf of more than 1,500 app developers regarding its App Store fees.

The case claims that Apple imposed an unfair commission on third-party developers of up to 30% on app purchases or other content. The case is also worth up to 785 million (IDR 15.4 trillion) and one of some faced by the tech giant in the UK,

Sean Ennis, a professor of competition law and former economist at OECD, led the case filed in last year's Competition Appeal Tribune (CAT).

His lawyers say that Apple has abused its dominant position in the app distribution market on its devices and is seeking compensation for UK-based developers.

However, Apple claims that 85% of developers in its App Store did not pay the commission at all and asked CAT to reject the case which its lawyers say is "unsustainable".

Apple's attorney, Daniel Piccinin, said developers cannot file claims in the UK unless they are charged with purchases made through the UK App Store. This only applies to a small number of plaintiffs," the company said.

However, Ennis' lawyer, Paul Stanley, said in court documents that Apple "came to the UK to offer services to businesses in the UK in the UK market and had abused its position by imposing excessive costs on them".

According to his argument, this means that British law applies to all these cases and can be continued.

Apple is already facing a mass lawsuit related to the App Store commission, which was filed on behalf of about 20 million users in the UK and has been approved in 2022.

The company is also facing separate cases of iPhone batteries suspected of being disabled in the name of about 24 million iPhone users, who were certified last year.

Apple is fighting both cases, which are not expected to be brought to trial before 2025.