Cydia’s antitrust case against Apple may continue, according to Reuters. On Thursday, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rodgers, the same judge who oversaw the Apple-Epic Games case, ruled that Cydia founder Jay Saurick Freeman could file a lawsuit against the company after rejecting Apple’s offer to dismiss the appeal. .
Freeman first sued Apple in late 2020, claiming the company had an “illegal monopoly on the distribution of iOS applications.” Judge Gonzalez Rodgers dismissed Cydia’s initial complaint against Apple, ruling that the case was out of date. But she also allowed Freeman to change his case, which he did. In its latest complaint, Cydia claims that iOS updates released by Apple between 2018 and 2021 are “overt” actions that harm distributors like it. This is a statement that Judge Gonzalez Rodgers found credible enough to investigate.
“As the plaintiff’s claims rely on Apple’s technology updates to exclude Cydia from being able to operate fully, these claims are timely,” the judge said in his ruling.
Cydia is seeking compensation from Apple (the company stopped processing purchases in 2018) and hopes to force the technology giant to open iOS for payments to third parties and app distributors. Opening up the App Store to more competition is something U.S. lawmakers are also considering, with the Senate Judiciary Committee recently unveiled the Open Apps Market Act. If passed, the law will force Apple to allow iOS sideloads and prevent the company from locking developers into its payment system.
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