Back in March, Apple said it would appeal a $2 billion antitrust fine imposed on it by the EU over the complaint . made by Spotify, and now it is reported that it has filed a lawsuit.
This is the latest example of the iPhone maker taking an aggressive stance against competition law on both sides of the Atlantic – ;
Spotify’ Complaint against Apple
Spotify filed a complaint back in 2019. The company argued that App Store rules gave Apple Music an unfair advantage over Spotify.
Open Apple Music and you can subscribe right in the app—and Apple, of course, doesn't have to pay itself 30% for the privilege. If Spotify offered the same in-app subscription option, it would have to pay Apple 30% in the first year and 15% in each subsequent year. This, the company said, meant the two music streaming apps were not competing on equal terms.
Apple's rules even made it difficult for Spotify to tell its app users how to subscribe, as they were not allowed to simply link to the subscription page on the website.
The EU took a long time to decide, but agreed with Spotify that it was anti-competitive behavior by Apple. and fined the Cupertino company 1.8 billion euros ($2 billion).
Apple is fighting $2 billion antitrust fine
At the time, Apple said it rejected the decision and would appeal it in court. Bloomberg reports that the company did just that.
Apple Inc. is challenging a €1.8 billion fine imposed by the European Union for undermining fair competition from music streaming rivals including Spotify Technology SA.
The iPhone maker has filed a lawsuit in the EU General Court in Luxembourg with demand to reverse the March decision, according to people familiar with the situation who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Opinion 9to5Mac
Apple doesn't dispute the fact that its policies have hurt Spotify. Instead, he argues that antitrust laws are designed to protect consumers, and there is no evidence that consumers are being harmed.
This is a difficult argument because the very essence of antitrust laws is to ensure that what is best for consumers Free and fair competition between companies helps. Companies that use their market dominance to limit competition end up hurting consumers.
This is another example of Apple's extremely aggressive stance against antitrust regulations and laws at home and abroad – fighting those which it can, and responds to everything else with what has been described as malicious compliance.
In the US, for example, Apple was told that it must allow the sale of in-app content outside of its own App Store. , where a commission of 30% was charged. Apple said, “Okay, but companies will still have to pay us 27% of sales made elsewhere.” We said at the time that Apple's response effectively gave the judge the middle finger, and she did seem to share that view.
Photo by Jonas Vandermeiren on Unsplash
