Earlier today, the United States Supreme Court ruled that a major lawsuit against Apple and the App Store will be allowed to move forward. Now, Apple has responded to that Supreme Court decision, saying that it is confident it will prevail in court.
SCOTUSblog explains that the question the Supreme Court had to answer was whether or not a consumer can sue anyone who delivers a product for antitrust damages, even if prices are set by third-parties who would be the victim of the offense.
For Apple, the case is that the App Store requirement is monopolistic, allowing Apple to take a 30 percent cut of App Store revenue from developers.
The Supreme Court decided this morning that the case against Apple can move forward. Apple had originally argued last fall that the case be thrown out, but today’s ruling means that won’t happen and the case will return to the court system.
In a statement to CNBC, Apple says that the App Store is the safest and most secure platform for customers and developers alike. Apple says that the App Store is “not a monopoly by any metric” and allows developers to set their own prices for applications.
Apple also says that the “vast majority” of apps on the App Store are free, and thus it “gets nothing from them.”
Here is the statement in full:
Today’s Supreme Court ruling is purely based on the merit of the lawsuit, not the subject of the argument. We are still ways away from a final court decision.
We’re proud to have created the safest, most secure and trusted platform for customers and a great business opportunity for all developers around the world. Developers set the price they want to charge for their app and Apple has no role in that. The vast majority of apps on the App Store are free and Apple gets nothing from them. The only instance where Apple shares in revenue is if the developer chooses to sell digital services through the App Store.
Developers have a number of platforms to choose from to deliver their software – from other apps stores, to Smart TVs to gaming consoles – and we work hard every day to make sure our store is the best, safest, and most competitive in the world.”
