Apple's legal team lately seems to be very busy, as legal disputes do not stop. We recently heard about the lawsuit filed by Epic Games for company policies in the App Store. There is still one from the European Commission for tax arrears.
The latest addition to this Apple list is a lawsuit filed by the Russian antitrust authority over the company's monopoly practices with iOS 12.
The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) of Russias investigated claims by Kaspersky Lab about cutting off access to some developer APIs and hosting ambiguous documents with the release of iOS 12 – which contained Screen Time – in 2018.
This led to many apps, including the parent app control της Kaspersky, να χάσουν την λειτουργικότητά τους, ενώ η εφαρμογή Screen Time της Apple συνέχισε να χρησιμοποιεί τις δυνατότητες του iOS που δεν ήταν πλέον διαθέσιμες σε τρίτους προγραμματιστές.
Following an investigation by FAS Russia, found that Apple is guilty for abusing its market position.
A statement (translated) by FAS Russia states:
The company documents, which guide developers, contain ambiguous provisions, as well as provisions under which Apple may reject (prevent) any third-party application from its App Store, even if it meets all of the company's requirements.
After a thorough investigation of the documentation and technological features of iOS and applications, assessing Apple's actions, the FAS Russia Commission concluded that the company had abused its dominant position in the application distribution market for cell phones on the iOS operating system.
Shortly afterwards, FAS Russia issued a correction order requiring Apple to remove any ambiguity from its documentation, which currently entitles it to reject applications for any reason, even if they meet all the requirements.
In addition, he ordered the Cupertino company to ensure that Apple apps do not override third-party apps and that developers can continue to make parental control apps and distribute them through the App Store without Apple blocking important functions.
Apple has until November 30, 2020 to comply with this order. It must also notify FAS Russia of any changes it has made within five days of their implementation.
