Apple's Antitrust Class Action Lawsuit Back in U.S. Court

Apple potentially faces another antitrust lawsuit (photo: dok. unsplash)

JAKARTA - A class action lawsuit targeting the Apple app store has been brought back to court. The case, which was filed in the form of a petition by the plaintiffs, was accepted by the Court of Appeal.

The case, called In re Apple iPhone Antitrust Litigation, has been ongoing since 2022. US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers had previously dismissed the class action status in the case.

The cancellation of this case was carried out because the calculation model of the losses submitted by the plaintiff was considered inconsistent. The judge assessed that the legal team failed to show evidence of financial damage suffered by all members of the group simultaneously.

The plaintiffs were not satisfied with the decision so they filed an appeal to the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals. The court agreed to review the revocation of the group's lawsuit status.

Unlike the previous case, the main focus of the appeal trial this time is only on the class certification rules. The judge will not examine the core of the antitrust allegations, but rather the eligibility of the status of the collective lawsuit of the users.

Mark Rifkin, the lawyer for the plaintiffs, stated that his party was ready to argue before the panel of judges of the appeals court. His party is optimistic that it can prove that the loss model they have meets legal requirements.

If this appeal is granted, Apple is threatened with having to face lawsuits from millions of account holders who feel harmed. This process is predicted to be one of the major tests for the payment system policy in the App Store.