Apple will not face a class action lawsuit over claims that its deals with payment app companies chill innovation in the space after a judge tossed the suit, saying that it "suffers from several fatal problems." U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria said that the plaintiffs had not been able to adequately allege antitrust standing "given the speculative nature of the connection between the alleged anticompetitive conduct and the plaintiffs' injury."
The lawsuit was originally filed in November of 2023 and claimed that Apple was in violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act as a result of agreements it held with Google, PayPal, and other payment companies. Those agreements prevented the use of cryptocurrency payment options via the apps those companies made available on the iPhone, something that the lawsuit argues results in more costly payment options for users.
