Supreme Court Refuses Injunction Against Apple Over Its App Store

The Supreme Court denied an injunction against Apple that might have allowed iPhone apps to be distributed outside the company’s proprietary App Store.

App makers had sued Apple claiming it had violated antitrust laws but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit rejected the lawsuit late last year.

The Supreme Court’s decision came after the European Union’s antitrust authority fined Apple 1.8 billion euros (about $1.95 billion) on March 4 for unfair trading policies.

The European Commission charged Apple in 2023 with blocking Sweden-based streaming service Spotify and others from making users aware of various payment options available outside Apple’s App Store. The commission ordered Apple to halt this conduct. Apple said it planned to appeal the decision to the Luxembourg-based General Court, a process that could take years.

The application for an injunction in Coronavirus Reporter v. Apple Inc. was denied on March 18 in an unsigned order. No justices dissented from the denial. The Supreme Court did not provide reasons for its decision. The co-applicants were Coronavirus Reporter, Calid Inc., and Primary Productions LLC.

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