A federal judge has thrown out a lawsuit claiming that Apple, Visa, and Mastercard conspired to keep payment processing fees high for merchants. The lawsuit, brought forth in 2023 by Mirage Wine & Spirits and various other businesses, alleged that Apple profited from anticompetitive agreements that hindered its ability to create a competing payment network against Visa and Mastercard.
The initial lawsuit specified that in return for not entering competition, Visa and Mastercard purportedly provided Apple with significant financial incentives, such as a payment of 15 basis points (0.15%) on all U.S. credit transactions and 0.5 cents ($0.005) on U.S. debit transactions conducted through Apple Pay. This deal was estimated to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars each year, even during the formative period of Apple Pay.
However, U.S. District Judge David Dugan determined that the plaintiffs failed to present adequate evidence to validate their claims. He criticized the lawsuit for depending on circumstantial assertions that were considered too speculative to exhibit any real parallel conduct or to establish that Apple intended to compete directly with the existing card networks.
Following the dismissal, Judge Dugan granted the plaintiffs 30 days to revise their complaint and file it again. He emphasized that failing to do so would lead to the case being dismissed under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(b).
Currently, Apple, Mastercard, and Visa have not made any public statements regarding the ruling, and all three companies have denied any misconduct concerning the allegations.
