Apple just got hit with a major legal blow in Europe. On Tuesday, the EU’s top court said the company can be sued in the Netherlands for antitrust damages tied to its App Store practices.
That decision opens the door for a massive €637 million claim filed by two Dutch consumer groups: Right to Consumer Justice and App Stores Claims. The groups argue that Apple’s app commission fees were abusive and unfairly hiked costs for millions of users.
The lawsuit, which focuses on Apple’s 30% cut on in-app purchases, targets the company’s alleged dominance and how it charges developers using its system.
According to lawyer Rogier Meijer from the law firm Hausfeld, who’s repping App Stores Claims, the estimated damage covers seven million iPhone users and seven million iPad users. That’s 14 million Dutch users in total.
“On the basis of the available information, in the writ of summons the damage… was estimated at around €637 million (including statutory interest),” Rogier said.
Dutch court allowed to proceed after Apple challenged jurisdiction
Apple had tried to block the case by arguing that Dutch courts had no right to handle it. The company said the alleged harm didn’t happen in the Netherlands. But the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) completely rejected that.
The judges ruled that since the App Store is localized for Dutch users, using the Dutch language and linking to Dutch Apple IDs, the impact was tied directly to the Netherlands.
“The damage allegedly suffered when purchases are made in that virtual space can therefore occur in that territory, irrespective of the place where the users concerned were situated at the time of the purchase,” the judges said.
That statement confirmed that territorial jurisdiction belonged to the Dutch court, and that international jurisdiction was valid, too.
The two consumer foundations behind the case accuse Apple of abusing its dominant position and charging app makers excessive fees, which they claim was illegal. They say those fees were passed down to users, which inflated prices for millions of Dutch customers.
The CJEU’s ruling came after a Dutch court asked the Luxembourg-based court for clarity on whether such a damages claim could go forward.
Now that the green light has been given, the full hearing on the substance of the lawsuit is expected to take place in the Netherlands by Q1 2026, according to Rogier.
If the Dutch court sides with the foundations, it could result in one of the biggest damages payouts Apple has ever faced in Europe.
The lawsuit is now locked in, and Apple will have to defend its App Store fee model in front of a Dutch judge.
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