Apple is fighting the $1.95 billion fine imposed by the European Commission for thwarting fair competition from music-streaming rivals. The iPhone maker has filed a suit at the EU’s General Court in Luxembourg to topple the March decision, according to “people familiar with the matter.”
As reported by Bloomberg, The Commission fined Apple in March, saying the Cupertino company abused its dominant position in the market by forbidding music streaming apps from telling listeners about cheaper subscription prices that were available outside the app. The EU’s ruling included an order to cease doing this.
The investigation stemmed from a five-year-old complaint by Stockholm-based Spotify, which claimed that it was forced to increase its monthly subscription fees to cover the additional costs stemming from Apple’s “stranglehold” on how the App Store was operated.
Apple has reportedly filed suit in the EU’s General Court in Luxembourg to challenge the March decision. The European Commission has stated it is ready to defend the ruling in court.
Apple declined to comment, merely pointing to an earlier blog post where it said that EU regulators failed to uncover any credible evidence of consumer harm. When the fine was issued, Apple said the decision was reached “despite the Commission’s failure to uncover any credible evidence of consumer harm.” Apple also said that the ruling “ignores the realities of a market that is thriving, competitive, and growing fast.”
The EU has also mandated that Apple “remove anti-steering provisions” for music apps in the European Economic Area (EEA). This resulted in Apple updating its App Store rules to allow music apps in the EU to tell users of all of the available methods of purchasing digital content or services, while also allowing website links to methods of purchasing digital music subscriptions.