APPLE has failed to persuade a US appeals court to consider blocking a class action that accuses the iPhone maker of monopolising the market for iPhone apps and keeping prices artificially high for tens of millions of customers.
The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday (May 24) rejected Apple’s bid for a pretrial appeal after a California federal judge in February allowed consumers to band together to pursue billions of US dollars in alleged damages.
US district judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers certified a class of consumers who spent US$10 or more on Apple app or in-app purchases since 2008. The lawsuit, filed in 2011, accuses Apple of violating US antitrust law by too tightly restraining how customers download apps.
Apple and attorneys for the plaintiffs did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Tuesday. The appeals court panel denied Apple’s appeal without a hearing.
Apple had argued that Rogers order would unfairly allow at least 10 million App Store accounts to be included in the case without the plaintiffs having shown how the account-holders were allegedly harmed.
Lawyers for the Apple customers urged the 9th Circuit not to hear the case, asserting that Rogers “faithfully” applied prior rulings in her decision to approve class status.
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Apple drew a parallel to a Google class-action of 21 million consumers that the 9th Circuit said last year it would review. But the appeals court never ruled in the Google case, after the trial judge said he would reverse his order approving the class action.
The Apple plaintiffs complained in a court filing earlier this year that their case has “withstood too many delays because of Apple’s scorched-Earth and wrong-footed litigation tactics.”
Both sides have suggested a possible trial window for 2026.
The US Justice Department separately in March accused Apple in New Jersey federal court of monopolising the smartphone market. Apple has denied the claims and said it will ask a judge to dismiss the lawsuit. REUTERS
