U.S. Top Court Asks Justice Department for Views in Apple Case

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. SupremeCourt on Tuesday asked the Trump administration for its views on whether tohear Apple Inc's bid to avoid a class-action lawsuit accusing the tech giant ofinflating consumer prices by charging illegally high commissions on iPhonesoftware sales through its App Store.

The justices are considering whether totake up Apple's appeal of a lower court ruling that allowed the proposedclass-action suit alleging it violated federal antitrust law to proceed. Applesaid the case should be thrown out because only developers of the apps who werecharged the commissions, not consumers, should be entitled to bring such asuit. Apple charges app developers a 30 percent commission on App Storeconsumer purchases.

The Justice Department will provide thehigh court with its stance on the matter.

The dispute could have a major impact onelectronic commerce, which has seen explosive growth, with $390 billion in U.S.retail sales last year alone.

Electronic marketplaces like the App Store,ticket site StubHub, Amazon's Marketplace and eBay where individual sellers setprices rather than the marketplace itself potentially could be sued byconsumers.

The antitrust claims date back to a 2011lawsuit filed by several iPhone buyers in California federal court, includinglead plaintiff Robert Pepper of Chicago, according to court papers. They allegethat Cupertino, California-based Apple has monopolized the sale of apps likemessaging programs and games, leading to inflated prices.

The company has sought to have theantitrust claims dismissed, saying the plaintiffs did not have legal standingto bring the case because they are not charged the commission.

The plaintiffs countered that they, not thedevelopers, pay Apple for apps at prices that include the commission, whichthey called a "monopolistic surcharge."

The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. CircuitCourt of Appeals in January sided with the plaintiffs, ruling that becauseconsumers directly bought products from Apple they were entitled to sue.

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