Apple appeals ‘unprecedented’ $580 million EU fine

Apple appealed to Europe’s second-highest court on Monday, challenging a 500 million euro ($587 million) fine imposed by EU regulators earlier this year for violating Digital Market Act regulations. The European Commission in a decision in April said Apple’s technical and commercial restrictions that prevent app developers from steering users to cheaper deals outside the App Store breached the Digital Markets Act.
Reuters:
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Apple, which had previously said it would seek legal redress, filed its lawsuit on Monday, the deadline for doing so.
“Today we filed our appeal because we believe the European Commission’s decision – and their unprecedented fine – go far beyond what the law requires,” the company said in a statement.
“As our appeal will show, the EC is mandating how we run our store and forcing business terms which are confusing for developers and bad for users. We implemented this to avoid punitive daily fines and will share the facts with the court.”
Last month, Apple overhauled its App Store rules to comply with the EU order to scrap its technical and commercial curbs on app developers in order to avoid daily fines of 5% of its average daily worldwide revenue or about 50 million euros per day.

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MacDailyNews Take: The day the EU is entitled to 5% of Apple’s average daily worldwide revenue – ludicrous – is the day Europeans can further handicap themselves with inferior Android dreck forevermore.
The U.S. has leverage and recourse. We expect both to be used.
Trump administration has been warning the EU against excessive regulation of American technology firms. On February 21st, President Trump issued a directive, “Defending American Companies and Innovators From Overseas Extortion and Unfair Fines and Penalties,” threatening to impose tariffs on Europe to combat what he called “overseas extortion” of American tech companies through digital services taxes, fines, practices, and policies.
See also: President Trump says Apple CEO Tim Cook called to complain about EU’s $17 billion in fines – October 17, 2024
The European Union arose because the Europeans couldn’t compete on their own with the rest of the world, so they each lined up to surrender their national sovereignty, unique cultures, and dignity for an undemocratic, opaque, wasteful, bloated, bureaucratic quasi-governmental blob – and, even with the EU’s thumbs all over the scale, they still can’t compete. — MacDailyNews, March 4, 2024

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