A UK court has permitted a class-action lawsuit against Apple Corporation regarding the commission rates in the App Store.
The lawsuit was initially filed back in July 2023 by Professor Sean Ennis of the University of East Anglia, acting on behalf of 13,000 UK developers. According to Bloomberg, Apple quickly attempted to block the lawsuit but was unsuccessful.
The lawsuit accuses Apple of abusing its market position in mobile stores by inflating the App Store's commission to an "unfair" 30%. According to the plaintiffs, this rate has become an "anti-competitive tax on the technology sector" in the UK.
The plaintiffs demand that Apple compensate them for damages totaling £630-785 million ($797-993 million).
It is noted that the UK's Digital Markets, Competition, and Consumers Bill (DMCCB) is soon to take effect. It is expected that it may force Apple to allow third-party app stores to operate on its devices within the country—earlier this year, the corporation complied with similar measures in the EU under the DMA law. Previously, in anticipation of the DMCCB coming into force, the UK's competition regulator halted its investigations into both the App Store and Google Play.