Apple Faces UK Class Action Over App Store Commission Charges

  • Suit to continue after judges rejected arguments to block case
  • Apple could be on hook for as much as £785 million in claims

The Apple App Store application.

Photographer: Berke Bayur/Anadolu/Getty Images
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Apple Inc. faces a class action lawsuit from UK app developers who allege its commission charges of as much as 30% on App Store sales created an anti-competitive tax on the nation’s tech industry.

The iPhone maker could be on the hook for repaying as much as £785 million ($995 million) in fees to as many as 13,000 developers, according to UK competition policy professor Sean Ennis, who’s leading the claim. Judges at the UK’s Competition Appeal Tribunal paved the way for the suit to continue after dismissing the US firm’s arguments to block the case.