France: Apple sentenced to a small fine for abusive commercial practices

This last week before Christmas is off to a bad start for Apple, which has just been sentenced by the Paris Commercial Court.

A rather ridiculous fine…

Today, the Paris Commercial Court has therefore pronounced a financial penalty in the amount ofone million Eurosand this, for having imposed abusive commercial clauses on French application developers for access to the American firm’s App Store.

This decision puts an end to a long procedure started in 2015, following an investigation by the Directorate General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Prevention (DGCCRF). The latter was also placed under the authority of the Ministry of Finance.

Besides, Bruno Le Maire had defended the rights of developers, believing more broadly that the application stores of Apple and Google were taking advantage of them. The investigation revealed that there was significant imbalances in the relationship between Apple and Google and the developers who sell applications on these stores.

Apple’s response

In a statement, Apple said it is reviewing the court’s decision and continuing to work with French developers. The company also said it believes in vibrant and competitive markets that allow innovation to flourish.

Anyway, some might find this sum derisory, especially compared -for example- to that pronounced by the FTC against Epic Games (over half a billion dollars…)