Apple Faces Epic Games-Style China Lawsuit Over App Store Practices

A Chinese court has agreed to hear a lawsuit against Apple from Beijing Bodyreader, a developer seeking around $420,000 in damages after their children's posture correction app was removed from the App Store in 2020.

App Store Blue Banner Chinese Flag Feature
Bloomberg reports that the case – the first of its kind to be heard in Beijing's intellectual property court – bears similarities to Epic Games' 2021 lawsuit against Apple. Bodyreader claims Apple unfairly removed their app citing "dishonest" behavior, while also challenging the company's 30% commission on app purchases and its control over the iOS ecosystem.

According to court documents reviewed by Bloomberg, Bodyreader argues that Apple's enforcement of App Store policies is inconsistent. The developer notes that after their original app was removed, they successfully published an identical app under a different name, "Qilin Century," which remains available on the App Store. Closed-door hearings began Thursday and could conclude this week.

The hearing represents the first time Apple has been forced to defend its standard mobile platform practices against a Chinese developer. Earlier this year, Apple successfully fought off antitrust accusations from a Chinese consumer, but the company still went so far as to appeal to remove references to its market dominance from the ruling.

Bodyreader is seeking monetary damages, an apology, and a court declaration that Apple engages in unfair monopolistic behavior. The developer has also requested that Apple be required to allow third-party app stores and external payment links.

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Top Rated Comments

sw1tcher Avatar
18 weeks ago
Let me guess, time for Apple to pull out of China?
Score: 20 Votes (Like | Disagree)
wanha Avatar
18 weeks ago
Well I for one appreciate the [S]hypocrisy[/S] irony of a state who runs on the principle of policing and controlling all information suing Apple for policing their own app store as "unfair monopolistic behavior"
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
winxmac Avatar
18 weeks ago
Apple may stop having an App Store for China and stop manufacturing iPhone models in China in the future...
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
WarmWinterHat Avatar
18 weeks ago

Apple may stop having an App Store for China and stop manufacturing iPhone models in China in the future...
I think Tim would drop the US before he dropped China. He loves China.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
GMShadow Avatar
18 weeks ago
Wow isn’t that a funny coincidence. Almost like the CCP was bankrolling Epic’s lawfare the whole time just to get this result so they could force their own CCP controlled store onto all devices.

Who could have seen this coming?
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Unregistered 4U Avatar
18 weeks ago
It will likely lose as Apple’s marketshare in the region is 14%. The developer could release their app for LITERALLY anything else and have more users. :) Additionally, using monopolistic language has failed everywhere it has been attempted.

In the EU, they made up a new term, gatekeeper, carefully constructed to specifically affect the profits large US companies. That kind of thing wouldn’t work in China as they actually HAVE tech companies, still. Many that, due to the actions of the Chinese government, have ACTUAL controlling marketshare. Any court ruling that affects Apple would affect the non-Apple market far more.

(It could be that they released their app on the iPhone because the App Store fee is FAR LESS than the majority app stores charge! I saw a reference to 50% fee, but that was from an article a couple years ago. If that’s still the case, then this case has no chance in… China).

EDIT: I was so curious I looked for a more recent story and, yup, from this year in a story about Huawei considering raising their store commission from free to 20% “Rival Android store operators in China, such as Xiaomi, charge as much as 50 per cent on in-game purchases.”
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/telcos-media-tech/huawei-weighs-app-store-fees-it-surpasses-iphone-china
Yeah, of 50% is the norm for the big stores. I don’t see how a LOWER fee would be a problem. Maybe they’ll just have to be more transparent specifically to China, but I doubt they’ll be fining a percentage of what Apple makes AROUND THE WORLD. :) As I said above, they HAVE a healthy tech economy outside Apple and Google. The EU? Not so much.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)