Judge Dismisses Musi Lawsuit Against Apple

A federal judge in California has dismissed a lawsuit filed by Musi Inc. against Apple, ruling that the tech company acted within its rights when it removed the free music streaming app from the App Store last year. The decision, handed down this week by US District Judge Eumi Lee in the Northern District of California, permanently bars Musi from refiling the case and underscores Apple's broad authority to delist applications.

The dispute centered on Musi, a popular iOS app that allowed users to stream music by pulling content directly from YouTube. Launched years earlier, Musi had amassed tens of millions of downloads by offering a free service enhanced with its own proprietary interface and advertisements. Users could pay a one-time fee of $5.99 to remove the ads. Unlike traditional streaming platforms, Musi did not secure licensing deals with music copyright holders. Instead, it relied on publicly available YouTube videos, which it argued mirrored standard web browser access to the site.

Apple removed Musi from the App Store in September 2024 following multiple complaints from YouTube, owned by Google, alleging violations of its terms of service, including copyright...