Judge Tosses Out Cryptocurrency Apple Antitrust Lawsuit Filed by Venmo Customers

[MacRumors]

A lawsuit targeting Apple's refusal to allow apps to support cryptocurrency transactions was today tossed out by a San Francisco judge, reports Reuters. The lawsuit, which was filed by Venmo and Cash App customers, claimed that Apple drove up the fees charged by Venmo and Cash App by not letting payment apps facilitate cryptocurrency transactions.

The plaintiffs alleged that Apple curbed competition in the mobile peer-to-peer payment market with its App Store guidelines. No option for cryptocurrency has supposedly caused Venmo and Cash App to raise prices for transactions and services due to "no competitive check." A payment app that is based on decentralized cryptocurrency technology would let iPhone users "send payments to each other without any intermediary at all."

According to the lawsuit, Venmo, Cash App, PayPal, and other payment providers agreed to an App Store guideline that does not allow for cryptocurrency transactions, which constitutes an "unlawful agreement." Apple asked for the case to be thrown out because the plaintiffs were not able to demonstrate illegal app rules or business agreements, and the judge agreed.

Apple's App Store rules allow cryptocurrency wallets that store virtual currency, and apps can facilitate cryptocurrency transactions on an approved exchange in countries where the app has licensing and permission to operate a crypto exchange.

The judge overseeing the case called it "speculative" and said it "suffers from several fatal problems." The plaintiffs have been given 21 days to submit an amended complaint, but the judge does not believe the case can be saved.

Article Link: Judge Tosses Out Cryptocurrency Apple Antitrust Lawsuit Filed by Venmo Customers

 

[antiprotest]

Eventually things will go full circle and the argument will be made that competition is against competition and legislations will be made against competition in order to protect competition.

 

[breather]

Crypto is a scam and shouldn’t be allowed on the App Store.

 

[KurtWilde]

Eventually things will go full circle and the argument will be made that competition is against competition and legislations will be made against competition in order to protect competition.

I’m assuming that’s going to be Apples defense in their antitrust case. Just worded in Applese.

 

[DelayedGratificationGene]

Same thing will happen to absurd DOJ case. Waste of taxpayer money.

 

[paul4339]

All these lawsuits and rules, I wonder what the legal costs are associated with running the App Store.

 

[klasma]

All these lawsuits and rules, I wonder what the legal costs are associated with running the App Store.

Negligible compared to the 30% cut.

 

[Victor Mortimer]

Crypto is a scam and shouldn’t be allowed on the App Store.

I'm going to agree with you, but with a caveat.

Apple should be required to allow normal software installation. Then the cryptoidiots could get their scam apps from any source of their choosing, I could install an open source terminal app from Github, and you could install anything you want too.

It's not Apple's iPhone, it's MY iPhone, and I have the right to install software of my choosing on it, without Apple's interference.

Then Apple can set whatever app store policies they want on their store, they can charge developers 90% if they want, and it won't matter.

 

[mdriftmeyer]

I'm going to agree with you, but with a caveat.

Apple should be required to allow normal software installation. Then the cryptoidiots could get their scam apps from any source of their choosing, I could install an open source terminal app from Github, and you could install anything you want too.

It's not Apple's iPhone, it's MY iPhone, and I have the right to install software of my choosing on it, without Apple's interference.

Then Apple can set whatever app store policies they want on their store, they can charge developers 90% if they want, and it won't matter.

https://www.apple.com/legal/procurement/docs/OL-APAC-AP_v.1.0.pdf

12. OWNERSHIP OF WORK PRODUCT. For purposes of this Agreement, "Work Product" includes, without limitation, all designs, discoveries, creations, works, devices, masks, models, work in progress, Service deliverables, inventions, products, computer programs, procedures, improvements, developments, drawings, notes, documents, information and materials made, conceived, or developed by Seller, alone or with others, which result from or relate to the Services performed pursuant to a PO, and all copies thereof. Standard Goods manufactured by Seller and sold to Apple without having been designed, customized, or modified for Apple do not constitute Work Product. All Work Product shall at all times be and remain the sole and exclusive property of Apple. Seller hereby agrees to irrevocably assign and transfer to Apple and does hereby assign and transfer to Apple all of its worldwide right, title, and interest in and to the Work Product including all associated intellectual property rights. Apple will have the sole right to determine the treatment of any Work Product, including the right to keep it as trade secret, execute and file patent applications on it, to use and disclose it without prior patent application, to file registrations for copyright or trademark in its own name, or to follow any other procedure that Apple deems appropriate. Seller agrees: (a) to disclose promptly in writing to Apple all Work Product in its possession; (b) to assist Apple in every reasonable way, at Apple's expense, to secure, perfect, register, apply for, maintain, and defend for Apple's benefit all copyrights, patent rights, mask work rights, trade secret rights, and all other proprietary rights or statutory protections in and to the Work Product in Apple's name as it deems appropriate; and (c) to otherwise treat all Work Product as Apple Confidential Information as described above. These obligations to disclose, assist, execute, and keep confidential survive the expiration or termination of this Agreement. All tools and equipment supplied by Apple to Seller shall remain the sole property of Apple. Seller will ensure that Seller's Affiliates appropriately waive any and all claims and assign to Apple any and all rights or any

OL-APAC- AP v1.1
interests in any Work Product or original works created in connection with this Agreement. Seller irrevocably agrees not to assert against Apple or its direct or indirect customers, assignees, or licensees any claim of any intellectual property rights of Seller affecting the Work Product. Apple will not have rights to any works conceived or reduced to practice by Seller which were developed entirely on Seller's own time without using equipment, supplies, facilities, or trade secret or Apple Confidential Information, unless (i) such works relate to Apple's business, or Apple's actual or demonstrably anticipated research or development, or (ii) such works result from any Services performed by Seller for Apple.

 

[dukebound85]

https://www.apple.com/legal/procurement/docs/OL-APAC-AP_v.1.0.pdf

wonder what I am paying for if it is "not my property"

 

[NT1440]

wonder what I am paying for if it is "not my property"

You could ask that of literally every digital product in your life for the last 20ish years now. All TOS’s basically amount to this. It’s bad, and even worse it’s basically boilerplate at this point.

 

[hoodafoo]

bitcoin is a scam

 

[NT1440]

“No option for cryptocurrency has supposedly caused Venmo and Cash App to raise prices for transactions and services due to "no competitive check."

If this is indeed reported accurately, a lawyer put forth the notion that a third corporate entity (Apple) is supposed to be the regulator of the conduct of two other corporate entities instead of…a government? This argument of governance was brought up to a branch of government (the judiciary).

Do I have this right?

 

[dampfnudel]

Same thing will happen to absurd DOJ case. Waste of taxpayer money.

I think based on what happened in the EU, that DOJ case might succeed.

 

[dampfnudel]

Crypto is a scam and shouldn’t be allowed on the App Store.

I wholeheartedly agree with you. I know a woman who told me that crypto would allow her to retire early. That was in 2018. She’s still working.

 

[The Barron]

"You get what you pay for," when you deal in crypto. How about using real money? 🤔

 

[Jumpthesnark]

So Venmo and the Cash App raised their fees and blamed Apple, and now some of their customers are suing Apple over it, saying that Apple stifled competition even though those two companies should be lowering their fees if they are truly competitive, regardless of Apple. Got it.

It turns out that the crypto users will really believe in any scammy thing you tell them.

 

[amartinez1660]

I don’t think I understand what I’m reading… currently Coinbase and Coinbase Wallet allows transactions between bitcoin addresses.
PayPal et al wanted to do the same besides their normal currency transactions?

bitcoin is a scam

Alright agreed. But so is fiat currency.
“The Creature From Jekyll Island” has been an amazing book… haven’t finished it yet, and don’t know what to make of it, but the couple few chapters have been a ride.

African tribes when they used to trade in glass beads come to mind. European settlers came by, realized the beads currency situation and being more advanced on that front (they were be able to build full blown cathedrals with amazing glass vitrines and whatnot), started flooding said places with glass beads as it would be cheap to manufacture in exchange of physical hard labor.

Same with the Federal Reserve and the whole banking system with it’s 10% (and 0% at times) fractional reserve: it’s easy to “manufacture” currency (i.e money printing) because it’s very cheap to add some digits to an account number (yes, digits, fiat currency today is close as digital as bitcoin) in exchange of labor extracted from us the laymen. Dollars are our modern day glass beads.

So, sure, let’s critique bitcoin all we want, I suggest those that don’t like it to never by a Bitcoin ever in life, but goodness let’s not praise the current system either.
“But the terrorists use crypto”: 99.99% of all wars, attacks, crimes, you name it have been funded by the current traditional system. This system thrives and promotes triggering wars as that devalues the responsible savers stashes and creates big wealth transfers from the many to the few at the expense of lives.
(Not denying that there are positives quite the progress leveraged by it, but focusing on the negatives as that what people like to focus on).

 

[techpr]

Crypto is a scam and shouldn’t be allowed on the App Store.

Crypto are technologies and everybody should study their fundamentals. Like it or not, you may be already using the technology without realizing it.

 

[svish]

A win for Apple. Did not think the case was valid.

 

[Zest28]

Crypto are technologies and everybody should study their fundamentals. Like it or not, you may be already using the technology without realizing it.

Crypto is terrible. Originally invented for payments, it is now purely used as "speculation" while having a big negative impact on climate change with the amount of energy it consumes.

Crypto bro's don't even know what they are doing. Even the most respectable of them, called FTX, was gambling clients money through their own hedge fund while this was not allowed at all and these clowns even used their own crypto as collateral. And the number of crypto bro's that "rug pull" their own crypto is staggering, it's not even funny.

And crypto is also being used for illegal financing.

I'm surprised crypto's aren't banned yet. Well, judging how much FTX spend on lobbying, I shouldn't be surprised.

 

[Fidgetyrat]

Amazing how many armchair economists are here to comment that crypto "is a scam". Nobody cares about your opinion on the matter.

Bottom line, it's my phone, I should be able to install whatever I want on it, so long as it's legal. I don't need the nanny state nor nanny Apple to tell me that.

 

[cocky jeremy]

I'm going to agree with you, but with a caveat.

Apple should be required to allow normal software installation. Then the cryptoidiots could get their scam apps from any source of their choosing, I could install an open source terminal app from Github, and you could install anything you want too.

It's not Apple's iPhone, it's MY iPhone, and I have the right to install software of my choosing on it, without Apple's interference.

Then Apple can set whatever app store policies they want on their store, they can charge developers 90% if they want, and it won't matter.

It's your iphone that you purchased, knowing damn well what is and isn't allowed on THEIR app store, and that their App Store is the only one available. Don't like it? Move along.

 

[I7guy]

Amazing how many armchair economists are here to comment that crypto "is a scam". Nobody cares about your opinion on the matter.

Bottom line, it's my phone, I should be able to install whatever I want on it, so long as it's legal. I don't need the nanny state nor nanny Apple to tell me that.

In the eu you already have that.

 

[dead.cell]

Eventually things will go full circle and the argument will be made that competition is against competition and legislations will be made against competition in order to protect competition.

Username checks out. 🤣

Amazing how many armchair economists are here to comment that crypto "is a scam". Nobody cares about your opinion on the matter.

Bottom line, it's my phone, I should be able to install whatever I want on it, so long as it's legal. I don't need the nanny state nor nanny Apple to tell me that.

I'm pro-crypto myself, but to pretend the crypto-space isn't loaded with scams would just be ignorant. Apple already deals with a tall order, trying to vet apps with malicious intent. Adding crypto to that, in a world where even the wealthy have been fooled as in the case of FTX, is just opening a can of worms.

That said, there's nothing stopping you from going to their respective websites and operating as you would otherwise. If you don't want Apple dictating those terms, go buy an Android phone. And if you don't care about the opinions of others, well... maybe stay off social media and forums.