US District Judge David Dugan has dismissed a lawsuit against Apple, Visa, and Mastercard for alleged anti-competitive payment practices, reported Reuters.
The plaintiffs alleged that the companies conspired to prevent competition and caused merchants to incur higher transaction fees.
The plaintiffs had accused Apple of accepting what they termed a “very large and ongoing cash bribe” from Visa and Mastercard to prevent it from entering the market, an arrangement that allegedly led to higher fees for merchants on transactions.
Dugan, however, found the evidence presented by the merchants to be insufficient, describing their case as reliant on “a slew of circumstantial allegations.”
While the judge allowed for the possibility of amending the lawsuit to present a stronger argument, the current claims were not upheld.
The defendants, including Apple, Visa, and Mastercard, have denied the allegations.
US Tariffs are shifting - will you react or anticipate?
Don’t let policy changes catch you off guard. Stay proactive with real-time data and expert analysis.
By GlobalDataThey had previously called for the dismissal of the lawsuit, asserting that no anti-competitive conduct took place.
Apple, which launched its Apple Pay service in 2014, allows iPhone users to make payments at businesses where the service is accepted.
Apple contended that the complaint did not demonstrate any concrete plans or intentions by the company to enter the payments network market.
In his ruling, News agency further quoted him as saying: merchants’ allegations “completely ignore the difficulties, costs and time, risks, and potential for failure associated with such an endeavour.”
Representatives for Mastercard and the plaintiffs have declined to comment on the ruling. Apple has not issued a comment, and Visa has not responded to a request for comment by Reuters.
Last month in UK, the Competition Appeal Tribunal ruled that Visa and Mastercard’s default multilateral interchange fees (MIFs) violate UK and Irish competition law.
