French Court Fines Apple Over Abusive App Store Practices
The Paris Commercial Court on Monday fined iPhone maker Apple just over 1 million euros ($1.06 million) for imposing abusive commercial clauses on French app developers for access to the company’s App Store, the court ruling showed.
The ruling, seen by Reuters, said there was no need to order Apple, which has a market value of about $2.1 trillion, to tweak the App Store’s clauses because the European Union’s incoming Digital Markets Act would require changes in any case.
And the pricing complaint was just addressed as part of the Cameron settlement.
Previously:
- Apple Working on Sideloading for Europe
- Smaller App Store Pricing Increments
- France to Take Legal Action Against App Stores
Update (2022-12-23): Florian Mueller:
I have meanwhile obtained and perused a copy of the entire 30-part judgment by the Paris Commercial Court’s 13th Chamber (trade judges Alain Wormser (presiding judge), Gérard Palti, and Beatriz Rego Fernandez). There are other counts on which Apple prevailed, and which have not received enough attention. As a commentator on these cases, I can’t just ignore the unfavorable parts of a decision.
[…]
My overall impression of the decision is that the three-judge panel was simply not interested in tackling some of the more difficult questions, such as the fairness of Apple’s requirement that all in-app purchases use Apple’s IAP system and the app tax of 30% or more for developers of a certain size (and 15% or more for small ones).
