A senior lecturer at King’s College London has won a landmark £1.5bn case against Apple.
The lawsuit, Kent v Apple, was brought by Dr Rachael Kent, who has made history as the first female Class Representative in the UK’s collective action regime.
In the class action led by Dr Kent, the Competition Appeal Tribunal ruled that Apple had abused its position by “imposing exclusionary practices” and “charging excessive and unfair” fees on app subscriptions, app purchases and in-app transactions made by UK iPhone and iPad users.
This has resulted in losses of over £1.5 billion over a 10-year period.
Apple has said it strongly disagrees with the ruling and intends to appeal.
Dr Kent is a senior lecturer in digital economy and society education in the Department of Digital Humanities at King’s College. Her research focuses on multiple aspects of digital culture and society.
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The Competition Appeal Tribunal has ruled in favour of Dr Rachael Kent on all aspects of her claim, and the Tribunal also concluded that users have been overcharged for buying apps, paying for subscriptions, and making in-app purchases of digital content in well-known apps such as Tinder, YouTube, Fortnite and Candy Crush.
Typically, 30 per cent of the purchase price for an app, app subscription or in-app purchase goes straight to Apple, as the company requires all purchases to go through its own App Store payment system. This allowed Apple to implement a 30 per cent commission.
This commission, however, did not apply to apps providing physical goods and services such as Deliveroo and Uber.
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Any UK user of an iPhone or iPad who purchased apps, subscriptions and made in-app purchases of digital content within the UK since 1st October 2015 is potentially entitled to compensation from Apple.
Device users can check their eligibility for compensation by logging into the App Store and checking their “Purchase History”.
Apple said: We thank the tribunal for its consideration but strongly disagree with this ruling, which takes a flawed view of the thriving and competitive app economy.
“The App Store has benefited businesses and consumers across the U.K., creating a dynamic marketplace where developers compete and users can choose from millions of innovative apps. This ruling overlooks how the App Store helps developers succeed and gives consumers a safe, trusted place to discover apps and securely make payments.
“The App Store faces vigorous competition from many other platforms — often with far fewer privacy and security protections — giving developers and consumers many options in how they build, share, and download apps. We intend to appeal.”
Dr Kent’s action against Apple is the first case brought under the UK’s collective action regime to reach a successful conclusion at trial.
The decision paves the way for £1.5 billion in compensation to be returned to nearly 36 million UK consumers and businesses, making this the first collective action of its kind against a global tech giant.
