France: Apple does not want to pay the billion-euro fine

In March 2020, Apple was ordered by the Competition Authority to pay a financial penalty of 1.1 billion eurosfor blocking the market with its relatively questionable sales strategy. Cupertino is in fact accused of freezing the competition “at the wholesale market level“, to impose an alignment on prices that is necessarily harmful to consumers but also to favor its own certified resellers to the detriment of other independents.

For Melanie Thill-Tayara, lawyer for the accused, this would nevertheless only be an institutional relentlessness, behind which much more questionable ambitions would in fact be hidden. According to the lawyer, our officials would indeed like to make an example by “raiding” the success of a GAFA, even if it means relying on arguments that it considers irrelevant.

Apple appeals

Before the Parisian court of justice, the defense therefore estimated this week that the grievances against the Apple did not hold up. Objective: that the fine imposed last year be “purely and simply” canceled. Even withmore than eighty-three billion dollars in global revenue during the third quarter of 2021, such a discount obviously remains welcome.

Let us also remember that even if more evidence were gathered against Apple, the sum of the punishment will in no way be paid to those concerned. Indeed, it is not third-party repairers or even end consumers who will be able to taste it: the jackpot will indeed end up in the pockets of the Macron administration, under the noses of the first plaintiffs.

Nuance to win better?

So as not to shoot herself in the foot either, Thill-Tayara added that the amount of the fine is in all cases “disproportionate” and that it would be - at best - judicious to reduce it significantly. Comments reported by the American newspaperBloomberg,whose columns are not very stingy when it comes to predicting Apple's quantified future in recent weeks.

No further action for the moment regarding this matter. The magistrates should share their decision in the coming days, but it is difficult to imagine a step back in the current context - App Store, confidentiality and company - seems precisely unfavorable to Apple's positioning.