Supreme Court asks Justice Department for views in Apple antitrust case

The US Supreme Court asked the Trump administration for its views on whether to hear Apple’s bid to avoid a class-action lawsuit accusing the tech giant of inflating consumer prices by charging illegally high commissions on iPhone software sales through its App Store. The justices are considering whether to take up Apple’s appeal of a lower court ruling that allowed the proposed class-action suit alleging it violated federal antitrust law to proceed. Apple said the case should be thrown out because only developers of the apps who were charged the commissions, not consumers, should be entitled to bring such a suit.

Apple charges app developers a 30 percent commission on App Store consumer purchases. The Justice Department will provide the high court with its stance on the matter. The dispute could have a major impact on electronic commerce, which has seen explosive growth, with $390 billion in US retail sales in 2016.