Cydia jailbreak app store: Apple fails to dismiss antitrust lawsuit

In a lawsuit, rival app store developer Cydia accuses Apple of illegally distributing software for its iOS through its App Store. On the other hand, Apple has confirmed in court that Cydia developer Jay Freeman’s claims have a statute of limitations – but the court has now dismissed that objection. This is Freeman’s second attempt to pursue a lawsuit in court after the first attempt failed. Reuters reports.

“Technical prohibition” of free competition

On Thursday, US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in Oakland, California, rejected Apple’s claim that Cydia SaurikIT’s allegations exceeded the four-year time limit set by federal antitrust laws. According to a Reuters report. Freeman sued Apple in 2020; It says, among other things, that the company prohibits free software distribution for iPhone and iPad, and also technically prevents this, hindering competition. Cydia is an alternative app store that requires you to jailbreak your iOS device from Apple restrictions before you can use it.

Apple has already argued against the first lawsuit, among other things, that Cydia only accessed iOS devices through unauthorized methods such as jailbreaking. Free distribution outside of Apple’s own App Store has never been allowed, and the App Store’s commercial decision was more than ten years ago, meaning Cydia’s claim has become obsolete. Judge Gonzalez Rogers initially followed this argument and dismissed the lawsuit in January of this year.

The second lawsuit can continue

However, in January 2022, the judge left open the opportunity to file a new lawsuit with amended allegations, which Freeman immediately did. This time Freeman’s lawyers argued that Apple released technology updates between 2018 and 2021 that “obviously” harmed other app distributors like Cydia and shut them down from the only software platform allowed in iOS.

The judge in the second lawsuit (SaurikIT LLC v. Apple Inc, US District Court, Northern District of California, No. 4: 20-cv-08733-YGR) followed this reasoning and ruled against Apple’s request to dismiss the lawsuit. Thus, claims that have been confirmed by the court are recognized as not having a statute of limitations and the case can be continued.

Freeman discontinued the Cydia app store in 2018, and since then app purchases are no longer possible. However, the software can still be used as a package manager on jailbroken iOS devices. Other providers can also provide repositories with paid apps.

Apple is under fire

Apple has been criticized for its restrictive app store model, and it has had to defend itself against lawsuits in several court cases. The most famous case is the dispute with Epic Games. The Cydia-style company argues with technical limitations that have hampered competition. In the wide legal battle between Epic Games and Apple, the appeal process began earlier this year. In addition, Apple tried to counter the developers’ criticism with out-of-court settlements; The privileges offered by the company so far have been met with ridicule.

(tiw)