The U.S.
Supreme Court has declined to review the case of app developers accusing Apple of antitrust violations for refusing to allow COVID-19 tracking and bitcoin apps in its App Store.
The developers’ lawsuit, which was rejected by the U.S.
Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit last year, argued that the tech giant’s refusal to make such apps available constituted censorship and violated antitrust laws.
Apple denied any wrongdoing and vowed to fight the government-initiated lawsuit.
The rejection by the Supreme Court followed a similar decision in March when it denied an application from Coronavirus Reporter, one of the app developers involved in the case, for an injunction against Apple that would have allowed iPhone apps to be distributed outside the company’s proprietary App Store.
The court stated that the developers failed to demonstrate that Apple possessed “a market share in a relevant market sufficient to constitute monopoly power.
The lawsuit also claimed that Apple operated the App Store as a monopoly by curating and censoring apps, violating the federal Sherman Act.
However, the court determined that the developers failed to provide specific evidence of these allegations, dismissing the claims for breach of contract, racketeering, and fraud.
The European Union’s antitrust authority has also fined Apple €1.8 billion ($1.95 billion) on March 4 for unfair trading policies.
The EU commission charged Apple in 2023 with blocking Sweden-based streaming service Spotify and others from making users aware of payment options available outside the App Store, ordering the company to cease that conduct.
Apple plans to appeal this decision to the Luxembourg-based General Court, a process that could take years.
In response to the EU’s decision, Apple stated it will continue to “defend against these baseless claims.