Moscow Court Rules Antitrust Case Against Apple is Lawful

Moscow Court Rules Antitrust Case Against Apple is Lawful
Photo: unsplash.com 22.04.2022 651

The court ruled that the initiation of a case against Apple over the imposition of payment through the App Store was lawful.

The Arbitration Court of Moscow ruled that the initiation of an antitrust case by the Federal Antimonopoly Service of Russia against Apple for forcing users to pay for goods through the App Store was lawful.

In August 2021 FAS claimed that Apple was abusing its dominant position in the app market by prohibiting app developers to inform users about alternative, more favorable ways to pay for goods than through its App Store.

The Office issued a warning requiring Apple to eliminate the violation, but the company did not do this. In October FAS initiated a case against Apple over the complaints of iOS users and application developers. 

Apple asked the court to invalidate the warning from FAS, the decision to refuse to extend the consideration of the warning and the order to initiate an antitrust case. The first instance on Thursday completely dismissed the claims. The decision can be appealed within a month.

Earlier FAS had reported that Apple had a commission of 15% to 30% from each payment in the App Store, while device users could not be informed about the possibility of purchases outside of the App Store. According to FAS, the company requires developers to remove links to their resources on the Internet and "change the functionality of the application" so that the registration form doesn't lead to external sites.

In the report FAS also said that if Apple was found in violation of the law on protection of competition it could face a turnover penalty - a percentage of the amount of revenue in the market.

Source: RIA

digital markets  Russia 

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