LONDON, Oct 23 (Reuters) - Apple ( AAPL ) on Thursday

lost a London lawsuit accusing the U.S. tech company of abusing

its dominant position by charging app developers an unfair 30%

commission through its App Store.

The Competition Appeal Tribunal ruled against Apple ( AAPL ) after a

trial of the lawsuit, brought on behalf of around 20 million

iPhone and iPad users in the United Kingdom and valued at up to

1.5 billion pounds ($2.01 billion), earlier this year.

The case was the first mass lawsuit against a tech giant to

come to trial under Britain's fledgling class action-style

regime, with many other cases waiting in the wings.

($1 = 0.7451 pounds)