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KEY POINTS A nearly decade-long battle over Apple's App Store is set to finally be argued before the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday.

The court's decision in the case, Apple Inc. v. Pepper, could have an impact beyond Apple.

The case is the most important business dispute of the term, and the most consequential litigation facing Apple outside of its billion dollar intellectual property suit against chipmaker Qualcomm.

A nearly decade-long battle over Apple's App Store is set to finally be argued before the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday, setting up a high-stakes showdown over whether the company can be forced to pay damages to iPhone owners who say the App Store is an unlawful monopoly. The iPhone owners who brought the suit allege that Apple's 30 percent commission on app sales amounts to price gouging passed on to consumers. iPhone owners can only buy apps through the App Store, unless they bypass Apple's rules by "jailbreaking" their phone, which modifies the iPhone's software so users can download apps outside the App Store. Jailbreaking an iPhone voids its warranty.

The case does not address the underlying monopoly issue, but instead will determine whether the iPhone users can bring the charge at all. Apple has argued that only app developers could bring such a suit. The stakes of the Supreme Court battle are high. Experts say that if the court permits iPhone users to bring their suit, they could force the company to refund a percentage of every app sold over a four year period, possibly saddling the electronics giant with hundreds of millions of dollars in penalties. Whether iPhone users get that payout won't be resolved by the Supreme Court. If the iPhone owners win Monday's fight, they will have to prove in a district court battle that Apple has a monopoly that has led to overcharging, which Apple vigorously denies.



Nonetheless, the case is the most important business dispute of the term, and the most consequential litigation facing Apple outside of its billion dollar intellectual property suit against chipmaker Qualcomm. Analysts watching the case say it could have an impact for shareholders. "I would say that it is significant to the stock, because if you look at what's driving shares, part of it is that Apple's services revenue is elevating," said Tom Forte, an analyst at D.A. Davidson who covers Apple and other consumer technology companies. Forte said that the primary drivers of the company's shares in recent weeks were the U.S.-China trade war and slowing iPhone sales. But, he said, "if they were to lose, that could put further pressure on the stock." Apple's services revenue, which comes from the App Store as well as other products such as iTunes and iCloud, hit a record $10 billion in revenue last quarter. The company's market cap exceeds $800 billion. Watch: Steve Jobs explains the iPhone to CNBC in 2007 interview