Conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh, an appointee of President Donald Trump, joined the court’s four liberal justices to rule against Apple and wrote the decision.The company, backed by the Trump administration, argued that it was only acting as an agent for app developers, who set their own prices and pay Apple’s commission. Apple had argued that a Supreme Court ruling allowing the case to proceed could pose a threat to e-commerce, a rapidly expanding segment of the U.S.
Explaining the ruling from the bench, Kavanaugh said the 1977 precedent was “not a get-out-of-court-free card for monopolistic retailers,” an apparent allusion to the popular board game Monopoly. Developers earned more than $26 billion in 2017, a 30-per-cent increase over 2016, according to Apple.