Apple, Visa, and Mastercard sued over Apple Pay

Apple, Visa, and Mastercard have been sued by a class action lawsuit over Apple Pay. Companies are accused of illegal agreements that restrict competition. This was reported by Reuters.

Beverage retailer Mirage Wine & Spirits accuses Visa and Mastercard of making Apple Pay transactions result in companies paying higher fees.

According to the lawsuit, Apple entered into an agreement with Visa and Mastercard in which it renounced its intention to compete with them. In exchange, the banking companies paid a portion of the transaction fees for purchases made by consumers in their networks using the Apple Mobile Wallet service.

The lawsuit also claims that Visa and Mastercard paid Apple a “very large and ongoing cash bribe” estimated at hundreds of millions of dollars a year.

Earlier, Apple was already sued for suppressing competition because the company prohibits the use of third-party mobile wallets on iPhones.