Developer of Cydia, Jay Freeman filed a lawsuit against Apple’s anticompetitive policies which prevent Cydia from operating on iOS in 2020. The tech giant appealed to get the case dismissed but the U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in Oakland, California has ruled in favor of the plaintiff.
Cydia is a third-party app store on iOS and iPadOS exclusively available on jailbroken iPhone and iPad models. A jailbroken device is able to run any third-party software on iOS and iPadOS. As Apple strongly discourages users to jailbreak their devices, the company regularly releases new software updates which render jailbreaking invalid.
Judge approved Cydia’s lawsuit against Apple seeking third-party app store on iOS and iPadOS
Previously, Judge Roger’s found Cydia’s first lawsuit outside the statute of limitations but allowed the developer to file a new complaint. In January 2022, Freeman filed a new lawsuit stating that Apple introduced new technologies between 2018 and 2021 that “harm” app distribution by third-party developers on iOS, outside the Apple App Store.
Although Apple’s lawyers argued that claimed that Cydia’s claims were “time-barred” and “stale”, Judge Rogers saw them as valid. Reuters reports:
Cydia’s lawyers argued in the amended lawsuit that Apple’s technology updates between 2018 and 2021 were “overt” acts that harmed iOS app distributors such as Cydia.
In Thursday’s ruling, Gonzalez Rogers said “to the extent plaintiff’s claims rely on Apple’s technological updates to exclude Cydia from being able to operate altogether, those claims are timely.”
The developer is seeking a court’s order to allow third-party app stores for app distribution and payment methods on iOS to compete “fairly” with the tech giant and “recover the enormous damages” the tech giant caused Cydia.
Last year, Judger Rogers also presided over the Epic Games vs. Apple lawsuit which was also seeking the court’s order to allow third-party app stores on iOS. But the grounds on which Epic filed its case were found in breach of contract, and Judge Rogers ruled in favor of the iPhone maker.
Although Cydia is asking the court for the same outcome as Epic Games, developer Freeman is basing his case on the tech giant’s deliberately introducing technologies to crush competition.
