A British court has given the tech giant permission to appeal part of a certification decision on its cloud storage service, while taking the case to trial, despite Apple’s objections to the timing.
(CN) — Apple bought itself a trip to Britain’s second-highest court on Wednesday, but not a pause button in a multibillion-pound British consumer case over iCloud. The UK’s Competition Appeal Court has given Apple permission to appeal part of a ruling in a proposed class action brought by Consumers Association, better known as the October20 judgment, over the booklet20?
Which one? says Apple used its control of the iPhone ecosystem to give iCloud an advantage over rival cloud storage services, leaving consumers with fewer meaningful choices and higher prices. Apple says the lawsuit misses both technology and economics. The Competition Appeal Tribunal, a specialist UK court established in 2003 that hears antitrust and regulatory matters, is where many of Britain’s largest group competition claims take place. Apple’s appeal focused on a question that sounds technical but could have far more ramifications than what harm to the consumer surplus,” essentially the value they say was lost when competition was weakened. Apple argues that allowing those claims would have implications for other competition lawsuits built around consumer choice and market effects. “There’s a compelling reason because it’s a new point of law that will affect cases of others,” Marie Demetriou said of Apple. Which? argues that Apple was asking appellate judges to consider a contested economic theory before the evidence had been tested. The consumer group said the real question was not whether Apple had identified a legal issue worth arguing, but whether which? case was fundamentally flawed. “The question is whether Apple has any real prospect of convincing the Court of Appeals that our position is so bad that it shouldn’t be go to trial,” said Phillip Woolfe, counsel for Which?. The judges agreed that the case warranted a closer look, paving the way for Apple to take it to the Court of Appeal and England, and even the Court of Appeal. trial. Which? filed the lawsuit in November 2024 on behalf of UK users who received iCloud services on Apple devices configured for the UK. The consumer group assesses damages for paying iCloud users in the UK between 1.38 billion pounds (about 1.85 billion dollars) and 1.99 billion pounds (about 2.67 billion dollars) before interest. It is also asking for compensation for users who have never paid for the service. It said that Apple has made iCloud the best option, especially for the backup of certain files design choices reduced competition and directed users to Apple’s own service.Apple counters that the claim hinges on a speculative vision of how cloud storage would have evolved without the practices being challenged 20.00 to 40% $268,400).Then attention shifted to the impressive cost of taking the case to trial.Apple’s high-level budget for an eight-week hearing was between 40 million pounds (about 54 million dollars) and 50 million pounds (about 67 million pounds), including $7.4 million to $8 million, for expert evidence alone. The court described the figures as “extraordinary” and said “if that were the total cost claim … it would be clear that the costs of that order would be unreasonable and disproportionate.” Apple will now take its arguments to the Court of Appeal On September 14, 2026, the judges set the iCloud consumer lawsuit for an October 2028 trial, finding that an early start would be too ambitious. Apple, however, warned that the case is unlikely to be ready before January 2029.Courthouse News reporter Eunseo Hong is based in the Netherlands.
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