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Apple tries to dismiss $800 million lawsuit over coronavirus app

Published: May 12, 2021, 7:47 AM

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Apple tries to dismiss $800 million lawsuit over coronavirus app

Although Apple continues to enjoy booming business worldwide, it doesn't seem very fortunate when it comes to the number of lawsuits filed against it this year. We've already lost count of all the anti-trust violation lawsuits that have bombarded the company, including its "battle royale" with Epic Games, and others.

This time, the tech giant is dealing with a pretty serious lawsuit coming from the developers of an app called "Coronavirus Reporter."

Earlier this year, Coronavirus Reporter planned to be the first COVID-related app in the App Store, intending to "capture and obtain critical biostatistical and epidemiological data as it happened" by collecting self-identified COVID symptoms from people, and presenting symptomatic regions on a map.

Apple agreed to include biotechnology and bioinformatics in the App Store, did not follow through

After the app was rejected once in January, the developers filed an appeal, and requested that Apple allow the kind of content that Coronavirus Reporter would offer into the App Store.

After the rejection, the plaintiff asked Apple to “expand the rule to allow corporations other than insurance companies, such as biotechnology or bioinformatics firms. Apple agreed, and added health care corporations to the list of permissible entities.”

After Apple acquiesced, the app applied a second time to be offered in the App Store, even after providing additional documentation—but was promptly dismissed "for no good reason," its developers claim.

The rejection resulted in an $800 million lawsuit claiming monopoly

Following the second rejection, the app's developers sued Apple again on the grounds that it rejected what could have been an important contribution to society, in order to maintain its monopoly on COVID exposure notifications (which Apple already channels).

Apple responded that monopoly had nothing to do with it, but that Apple's policy forbids applications from companies that are not part of approved healthcare organizations.

The developers countered that their company "includes the ex-NASA cardiologist responsible for creating the 'gold standard test' for detecting heart attacks." They issued a second, amended complaint, where they emphasized anti-trust accusations against Apple.

Apple calls for complete dismissal, calls amended complaint irrelevant

In the latest development of the case, Apple has fired back once again, claiming that the developers of Coronavirus Reporter are blindly drawing on irrelevant antitrust cases in an attempt to play the white knight, in a case that is an isolated scenario.

Apple argued that Coronavirus Reporter's revised $800 million lawsuit [simply repeated its original allegations], that the developer erroneously added five unnamed apps purporting to be plaintiffs, and copied and pasted claims from at least three other pending antitrust cases against the company in the Northern District of California.

Apple's new filing, calling for the case to be dismissed, is constituted by a public 26-page long document—apart from that, Apple has issued no comment on the matter.