Trump administration will weigh in on Apple antitrust case

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App Store
The Supreme Court's ruling could have a huge impact on the App Store.
Photo: Apple

The highest court in the U.S. is debating whether or not it should hear an appeal from Apple on a class-action lawsuit that it lost in a lower court.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court asked the Trump administration’s Justice Department for its opinion on the case. Apple is accused of charging illegally high commissions on the sale of apps in its App Store, but the group suing Apple isn’t developers, it’s a bunch of consumers who purchased the apps.

Because the case has been brought up by consumers, Apple argued that it should be thrown out because developers are the only ones with legal grounds to sue. Apple currently charges developers a 30 percent commission on all App Store purchases.

According to a report from Reuters, the plaintiffs allege that Apple created a monopoly on the sale of messaging apps, games and more. This, they claim, lead to inflated prices for consumers because developers had to raise the price of their apps to cover Apple’s commission fee.

The Supreme Court’s decision could have far reach effects on the digital economy. Companies like Amazon, eBay, StubHub and more could potentially be open to lawsuits from consumers.

San Francisco’s 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in January that consumers were entitled to sue because they bought the products directly from Apple. The lawsuit against Apple was filed back in 2011. If the Supreme Court declines to take it up it will finally be over.

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