Legal battle between tech giants and the European Union. Apple has appealed a €1.8 billion fine recently imposed by the European Commission for anti-competition in the online music market, AFP reported on Tuesday at the EU General Court. The annulment appeal was registered on May 16 in the Luxembourg court registry.
The commission announced on March 4 a fine of 1.8 billion euros against the US tech giant following an extensive investigation launched in June 2020. This was the EU’s first fine against Apple for anti-competitive practices. The European chief executive therefore ruled in favor of Swedish music streaming platform Spotify, giving rise to a complaint of abuse of dominance. This decision was immediately challenged by Apple, which announced its intention to appeal.
The group accused the Commission of not having “the slightest credible evidence of harm to consumers.” “Spotify pays nothing to Apple,” although it owes “much of its success” to the App Store and the group’s technology, Apple says. The Swedish service largely dominates the music streaming market in Europe, with more than 50% of the market compared to 8% for Apple Music. Spotify claims to have about 600 million annual users worldwide.
Legislation will move faster
According to the European Commission, Apple’s brand prevented app developers from promoting “alternative and cheaper offerings outside the Apple ecosystem” to iPhone and iPad users in favor of its own Apple Music service. This practice “resulted in many users paying significantly higher prices for their subscriptions due to the high fees Apple charged developers and passed on to consumers,” the Commission said.
When asked by AFP, the Commission did not want to comment on Apple’s appeal, but a spokesman stressed that it was “ready to defend its decisions in court.” However, legal proceedings can last for years before a final decision is made.
Faced with these delays and fines that were deemed insufficiently deterrent, the EU passed new legislation, the Digital Markets Regulation (DMA), which imposes rules on digital giants and strengthens Brussels’ powers to act faster and more decisively. On March 25, the European Commission launched the first procedures against Apple, Alphabet (Google) and Meta (Facebook, Instagram) under the DMA.
Source: Le Parisien
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