Another court finds Apple broke Competition Law

More and more jurisdictions around the world are coming to the conclusion that Apple’s rent-seeking behaviour on the iOS App Store is abusive, and today another court came to the same conclusion.

After a two year investigation, which narrowed to focussing on dating apps, the Dutch Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) came to the conclusion that Apple Inc broke its competition laws and ordered Apple to adjust the unreasonable conditions in its App Store that apply to dating-app providers.

The court ordered Apple to allow dating-apps providers to use alternative payment systems by the 15th of January or face a fine of up to 50 million euros ($56.6 million).

“We applaud the ruling issued today by a Rotterdam Court affirming the ACM’s decision that Apple’s forced use of its in-app payment systems and other practices violate Dutch and EU competition law, and must be eliminated by January 15th,” Match group said in an email statement.

Apple of course disagreed, and in a statement to Reuters said:

“We disagree with the order issued by the ACM and have filed an appeal. Apple does not have a dominant position in the market for software distribution in the Netherlands, has invested tremendous resources helping developers of dating apps reach customers and thrive on the App Store.”

Apple ad Google has lost similar cases in the USA and South Korea, but these cases have been stalled in appeal or Google has found a way around the issue by charging developers a commission based on their sales which amounts to a similar cut of their revenue.