Apple loses bid to have lawsuit by Cydia dismissed

Apple has lost a bid to dismiss a lawsuit in California federal court from Cydia, which has accused the tech giant of maintaining an unlawful monopoly over software distribution, reports Reuters.

Cydia is a graphical user interface that enables a user to find and install software not authorized by Apple on jailbroken iPhones, iPads and iPod touch devices. It also refers to the digital distribution platform for software on iOS accessed through Cydia software.

“Were it not for Apple’s anticompetitive acquisition and maintenance of an illegal monopoly over iOS app distribution, users today would actually be able to choose how and where to locate and obtain iOS apps, and developers would be able to use the iOS app distributor of their choice,” the lawsuit alleges.

In January 2022, U.S. district judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers granted Apple’s motion to dismiss a case brought against it by Cydia. The tech giant said the complaint was outside the four-year window allowed by federal antitrust law. However, at the time, Rogers also said that Cydia’s creator, Jay Freeman, leave to amend his suit.

On May 26, she ruled in favor of Freeman’s claim. As noted by Reuters, while she found that the claims of the first lawsuit did fall outside of the statute of limitations, Cydia’s amended lawsuit alleged that updates Apple made in 20118 and 2021 were designed to harm iOS app distributors like Cydia.

“To the extent plaintiff’s claims rely on Apple’s technological updates to exclude Cydia from being able to operate altogether, those claims are timely,” Rogers said.