Apple has lost its bid to dismiss a lawsuit on behalf of more than 1,500 UK app developers, a suit that seeks $1 billion in damages.

Sean Ennis, a professor of competition policy at the University of East Anglia, filed the lawsuit against Apple in mid-2023 on behalf of more than 1,500 app developers in the UK. The lawsuit was opt-out, meaning the developers were automatically included in the lawsuit. The lawsuit claims Apple is abusing monopoly it has created, charging developers an unfair commission.

“I have been studying competition questions for decades — and digital competition for quite a long time,” Ennis said at the time. “I’ve written about it in technical economic papers but also in less technical work. And I’m really convinced that the type of behaviour we’re talking about in this case is deeply problematic. So I was interested in taking a role to help get some redress for those who I feel have been harmed by the behaviour.

“Another element that is critical is that even if the fee was zero, you would still have the same App Store because Apple could not sell a single device without valuable apps such as Tinder, Spotify, Netflix, news apps, game apps and the like,” he added. “It’s only because they have created a monopoly of distribution for themselves that they’re able to collect this extraordinary commission.”

According to Reuters, Apple sought to have the case dismissed based on its position that developers in the UK cannot make a claim in the UK unless they were charged a commission for sales within the UK. Judge Andrew Lenon disagreed, however, saying he believed the plaintiff’s lawyers had a reasonable chance of providing that “Apple’s overcharging of commission to app developers based in the UK in relation to commerce transacted on non-UK storefronts did amount to conduct implemented in the UK”.

The case is the latest challenge Apple is facing to its walled garden. The EU has already forced Apple to allow third-party stores for EU customers and the DOJ has launched an antitrust suit, accusing Apple of “monopolizing smartphone markets.”