Apple Loses Landmark UK Lawsuit Over App Store Commissions (reuters.com)

(Thursday October 23, 2025 @11:30PM (BeauHD) from the law-and-app-order dept.)

A UK tribunal ruled that Apple abused its dominant position by [1]charging app developers unfair commissions through its App Store , potentially costing the company hundreds of millions in damages. It marks the first major tech "class action" victory under the UK's collective lawsuit regime. Reuters reports:

> The Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) ruled against Apple after a trial of the lawsuit, which was brought on behalf of millions of iPhone and iPad users in the United Kingdom. The CAT ruled that Apple had abused its dominant position from October 2015 until the end of 2020 by shutting out competition in the app distribution market and by "charging excessive and unfair prices" as commission to developers.

>

> Apple -- which has faced mounting pressure from regulators in the U.S. and Europe over the fees it charges developers -- said it would appeal against the ruling, which it said "takes a flawed view of the thriving and competitive app economy." The case had been valued at around $2 billion by those who brought it. A hearing next month will decide how damages are calculated and Apple's application for permission to appeal.

"This ruling overlooks how the App Store helps developers succeed and gives consumers a safe, trusted place to discover apps and securely make payments," an Apple spokesperson said.

[1] https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/apple-loses-uk-lawsuit-over-app-store-commissions-2025-10-23/

Only after 2015? (Score:3)

by dgatwood ( 11270 )

Seems like they've been doing it since 2008. Is there a ten year statute of limitations or something?

Re: (Score:3)

by thegarbz ( 1787294 )

There's two things here:

a) yes a statute of limitations of 10 years from the people bringing the case, and

b) the market conditions in 2008 being such that the same action wasn't in any way anti-competitive.

It's not illegal to set a commission to any price you want, until you have market power that can unfairly bias the market. The CAT specifically called out in their ruling that the "Claim Period" starting in 2015 is fundamentally different from the 7 years prior. They determined that the size of the user b

B.S. Positioning (Score:3)

by Sebby ( 238625 )

> [Apple's propaganda spokeperson says] "This ruling overlooks how the App Store helps developers succeed and gives consumers a safe, trusted place to discover apps and securely make payments,"

Which is irrelevant - the fact Apple doesn't allow developers to 'raise' the appstore prices to cover their extortion fees, or allow them to actually display the fact apple has extortion fees, and (IIRC) doesn't allow (or perhaps 'has not allowed in the past') devs to set different (discounted) prices outside the appstore(*) for when users can make purchases outside the appstore (SaaS services come to mind) is what makes their practices illegal (ie. "charging excessive and unfair prices" as commission to developers")

But I'm sure the Apple apologist fanboys here will claim different.

* or what that only the a$$hole$ at Amazon that did that?

Apple's App Store behavior (Score:1)

by Nicholas Grayhame ( 10502767 )

How is Apple's App Store behavior any different from a mobster's?

Timmy just wants to wet his beak...

PF (Score:1)

by Anonymous Coward

But if I don't have to pay extra for apps, how will I justify calling other brands "poverty phones"?!?