Apple, Visa, and Mastercard face a lawsuit over allegedly charging high merchant fees.

-Merchant Mirage Wine & Spirits alleges that Apple made agreements with Visa and Mastercard to not compete against the two incumbent credit card firms.
-The deal allegedly had Visa and Mastercard pay Apple part of the transaction fees for any purchases performed by consumers on their networks that used Apple’s “Mobile Wallet service,” namely Apple Pay.
-The lawsuit doesn’t just go after fee arrangements but also tackles Apple’s hardware as well. It is alleged that, under the agreement with Visa and Mastercard, Apple would “protect their market division from competition by blocking third parties from accessing certain hardware in the iPhone.”
-The lawsuit is seeking a class action status, and is brought on behalf of a proposed class of “at least many thousands” of merchants. It also seeks triple damages under U.S. antitrust law.
-Apple has yet to officially comment on the lawsuit.

Link to the original story: https://appleinsider.com/articles/23/12/16/apple-visa-mastercard-face-lawsuit-over-high-merchant-fees?utm_medium=rss