Apple’s attempt to dismiss an amended antitrust lawsuit filed by the creator of Cydia, an app store for jailbroken iPhones, failed (via Reuters). California District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers denied Apple’s motion to dismiss the case Thursday, giving the company 21 days to respond to Cydia’s refiled complaint. Cydia developer Jay Freeman (who also goes by the username Saurik) filed a lawsuit against Apple for the first time in 2020. The lawsuit alleges that Apple “has improperly acquired and maintained monopoly power” in distribution. and iOS app payments, ultimately “privating” third parties. app stores “the ability to compete with the App Store.” Cydia came into existence before Apple’s App Store existed and allowed users to find and download third-party apps for jailbroken devices. Freeman closed the Cydia store in 2018. The judge did not grant Apple’s motion to dismiss the case this time. Judge Gonzalez Rogers, the same judge who issued a mixed ruling for Epic’s lawsuit against Apple, dismissed the case in January, citing Freeman’s claims were outside the four-year statute of limitations for antitrust lawsuits. Gonzalez Rogers still gave Freeman the opportunity to amend the complaint, which is what he did. The new complaint alleges that from 2018 to 2021, Apple implemented “more aggressive” changes to iOS that allegedly prevented Cydia and other alternative app stores from offering “usable” iPhone apps. Apple once again tried to close the refiled complaint on the grounds that the allegations occurred outside of the statute of limitations, but Gonzalez Rodger denied the motion to dismiss. The Verge reached out to Apple with a request for comment but did not immediately hear back. In 2020, Epic Games filed a lawsuit against Apple following the removal of Fortnite from the App Store: Apple banned Fornite for offering an alternative payment option, allowing Epic to avoid Apple’s commission of up to 30 percent you receive from in-app purchases. Epic filed a similar lawsuit against Google around the same time, which is set to go to trial in 2023. Earlier this month, Match Group, the company behind Tinder, OkCupid, and Hinge also filed a lawsuit against Google over its payment restrictions on the Internet. Play store. In addition to app developers, Apple has come under scrutiny from government agencies. While the Netherlands imposed a series of fines on the company for banning Dutch dating apps from using their own billing systems, South Korea passed a law requiring both Apple and Google to allow developers to incorporate payment processors from third parties. The US and EU are also working to clamp down on the power of Big Tech, with the EU set to enact the Digital Markets Act next year, and the US moving forward with the Digital Markets Act. Open Applications designed to promote competition in mobile computing. .
