A Superior Court Judge, Peter H. Kirwan of the Superior Court of California, County of Santa Clara, has ruled that a lawsuit against Apple’s App Store can proceed filed by developer Kosta Eleftheriou, the developer of the FlickType app for Apple Watch.
Previously, Eleftheriou actively pursued scam apps on the App Store which rob users of millions of dollars annually. And when the QWERTY keyboard feature launched in Apple Watch Series 7, he cried foul play because there were striking similarities between the two apps. And to make it worse for Eleftheriou, the tech giant removed his app from the App Store.
The developer sued the tech giant in late 2021 accusing it of arbitrary implementation of App Store policies and negligence, abuse of monopoly power, and anti-competitive behavior. Apple tried to get the case dismissed but after reviewing the complaints, Judge Kirwan found some allegations to be valid and said that the lawsuit is can proceed.
Claims of negligence in the lawsuit against Apple are able to proceed
When the Apple Watch Series 7’s new QWERTY keyboard was introduced, people were quick to point out that it had the same design and functionality as the FlickType app, an accessibility app that offers a keyboard for users with visual impairment or low visibility to type with swiping across the keyboard.
Soon after the developer took the tech giant to court over allegations of breach of contract, fraud, false advertising to unfair competition, negligence, and negligent misrepresentation. Out of all the accusations, Judge has sustained that claims of negligence related to the App Store can proceed. “Judge’s ruling that Kosta Eleftheriou lawsuit alleging that Apple is negligent in how it operates the App Store is allowed to proceed.”
App Store has been under the radar of developers and legislators for the past year now. Especially in the Epic Games vs. Apple lawsuit, the tech giant argued that iOS needs the App Store review process to keep malicious apps off the platform, thus, it charges a commission for in-app purchases to fund the App Store operations. However, the existence of scam apps on the App Store weakens that argument.
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