Apple loses bid to file UK lawsuit over app store fees

LONDON (Reuters) -Apple on Friday lost an attempt to dismiss a mass lawsuit worth just under $1 billion brought in London on behalf of more than 1,500 app developers over App Store fees.

The case, worth up to £785 million ($979 million) and one of several faced by the US tech giant in the UK, alleges that Apple unfairly charged third-party developers commissions of up to 30% on app purchases or other content.

Sean Ennis, a professor of competition law and economist, is leading the case which was opened at the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) last year.

Its lawyers say Apple has abused its dominant position in the market for distributing apps for iPhones and other Apple devices and is seeking damages for UK-based developers.

Apple, however, claims that 85% of developers on its App Store do not pay any commissions.

His lawyer, Daniel Piccinin, argued at a hearing in January that developers cannot have a claim in the UK unless they are charged for purchases made on the UK App Store.

But the company’s attempt to dismiss that part of the case was rejected on Friday.

Judge Andrew Lenon said in a written ruling that Ennis’s lawyers had a realistic prospect of establishing that “Apple’s excessive commission charging to UK-based app developers in relation to trade carried out in stores outside the UK amounted to a conduct implemented in the United Kingdom”.

(Reporting by Sam Tobin; Editing by Sarah Young and Sachin Ravikumar)