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 its policies companyς στο App Store. Υπάρχει ακόμα μια από την Ευρωπαϊκή Επιτροπή για τις καθυστερήσεις paymentof taxes.
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.
Russia's Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) has investigated allegations Kaspersky Lab to cut off access to certain developer APIs and host ambiguous documents with the release of iOS 12 - which included Screen Time - in 2018.
This led to many apps, including the parent app control Kaspersky, lose their functionality, while Apple's Screen Time app continued to use iOS features that were no longer available to third-party developers.
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-based company to ensure that Apple applications do not override third-party applications and that developers can continue to create parental control applications and distribute them through the App Store without interfering with important Apple features. .
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.