App developers want a federal judge to open the App Store to competition, claiming “hundreds of thousands of person-years of our best developers are being discarded by Apple’s tyrannical greed,” according to Courthouse News.
Dr. Jeffrey Isaacs, who created the apps “Caller-ID” and “WebCaller,” told U.S. District Judge Edward Chen that he and other developer plaintiffs are prevented from competing with Apple on two fronts, app creation and distribution. Isaacs is joined by the developers of Coronavirus Reporter, which Apple rejected for not being affiliated with a “recognized institutions such as government, hospital, insurance company, NGO, or a university” and for containing “user-generated data has not been vetted for accuracy by a reputable source.”
Along with US$200 billion in damages, the developers want an injunction that would bar Apple from keeping certain apps out of its App Store and charging developers a $99 yearly App Store submission fee, reports Courthouse News.
The Coronavirus Reporter makers have sued Apple before. The first time was for $800 million. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the New Hampshire District over the fact that Coronavirus Reporterwas denied entry to the App Store in March 2020. Coronavirus Reporter, the lawsuit claims, was developed by a team of healthcare and computer science experts in February 2020 to “capture and obtain critical biostatistical and epidemiological data as it happened.”However, Apple wouldn’t allow the app on the App Store because the tech giant bars coronavirus-related apps that aren’t from recognized medical, government, or other institution. The app’s developers appealed to no avail.
They said Apple’s actions constitute violations of the anti-monopoly Sherman Act. They wanted, but didn’t get, an enjoinment on the alleged anti-competitive behavior; damages in excess of $75,000; and a permanent injunction restraining Apple’s ability from “restricting reasonable applications.”
