Apple in 2020 was hit with an antimonopoly lawsuit filed by the developer of Cydia, a popular tool that acts as an application shop for iPhone and iPad which is Jailbroken. Although Apple appealed to this case, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers now denied Apple’s appeal to reject the lawsuit.As reported by Reuters, Apple’s lawyer has stated that the accusations of Cydia developer Jay Freeman “are limited to time” and “stale.” Even so, Judge Gonzalez Rogers decided to let Cydia continue the lawsuit because he considered Freeman’s claim against Apple to be valid.
Cydia’s lawyer argues that Apple introduced new technology between 2018 and 2021 to endanger applications that are distributed outside the App Store – which are cases with Cydia and many other popular applications that can only be installed by users on jailbreak devices. For those who are not used to it, jailbreak is a process that “unlocking” iOS to run any third party software.
With a lawsuit, Cydia wants Apple to open iOS so that the developer can distribute applications outside the App Store. It also aims for Apple to allow alternative payment methods “for those who want to compete fairly” with the company. This came at the same time that Apple faced a similar lawsuit from Epic Games, which was also heard by Judge Gonzalez Rogers.
The Epic vs. Apple case
Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers issued a permanent order last year which said that Apple could no longer prohibit developers from directing users to third party payment options. Apple, as expected, appealed to delay the implementation of change, but the appeal was rejected by judge Gonzalez Rogers.
The company then appealed to the ninth circuit court where it claimed that the epic “tried to change the narrative” while showing that the App Store has produced a “large income” for developers since 2008. Apple also claims that by not allowing third party software at iOS, protecting iPhone and iPad users from malware.While we are waiting for a new decision in the Epic vs Apple case, a company based in Cupertino has a time in mid -June to respond to Cydia’s accusations.