Apple wants a Chinese court to alter its written ruling in a lawsuit the tech giant won.
According to Bloomberg, Apple has filed a petition asking the Supreme People’s Court to make tweaks to select sentences in a ruling that ended a dispute over the cut of app revenue it takes from most developers. The iPhone maker wants the nation’s highest court to strike references to Apple’s “dominant position” from a decision written by a lower court, which in May tossed out the lawsuit due to a lack of evidence.
In May a court in Shanghai ejected a Chinese consumer’s claim that Apple was abusing its market dominance with high Apple App Store fees, “marking a win for the US technology giant as it faces increased antitrust scrutiny around the world,” reported the South China Morning Post.
While Apple has the dominant market position in terms of iOS app distribution in mainland China, it did not abuse that power and hasn’t charged unfairly high commission fees, according to a judgment made by the Shanghai Intellectual Property Court.
The lawsuit was filed in 2021 by Jin Xin. The plaintiff accused Apple of abusing its market dominance, both with its 30% commission on in-app purchases and by accepting only its proprietary Apple Pay as a payment method.
Why does Apple want the court to strike all references to “dominant position” and “unfair pricing may hurt consumers.” According to AppleInsider, at stake is the possibility of future lawsuits that cite this ruling as precedent. Apple appears to want to avoid this case effectively establishing it as having a greater market share than its rivals.
