Apple, Visa, and Mastercard have convinced a U.S. judge to dismiss a lawsuit accusing them of conspiring to suppress competition in the payments network market and causing merchants to pay inflated transaction fees, reports Reuters.
U.S. District Judge David Dugan in Illinois that the merchants hadn’t provided enough evidence to support their claim that Apple illegally declined to launch a competing payment network to rival Visa and Mastercard.
Mirage Wine & Spirits filed a lawsuit in 2023 alleging that Apple had made agreements with Visa and Mastercard to not compete against the payment processors. Judge Durgan writes that the plaintiffs provided only a “slew of circumstantial allegations” in its suit. The ruling doesn’t entirely stop the lawsuit, as the retailers are allowed to update the claims to make them stronger, and to refile the suit.
