Today Apple will ask a federal judge to dismiss the U.S. Department of Justice’s case accusing the company of unlawfully dominating the smartphone market, reports Reuters.
U.S. District Judge Julien Neals in Newark, New Jersey, is scheduled to hear arguments from lawyers for Apple, and from prosecutors who say the company locks users in and keeps competition out by limiting interoperability between the iPhone and third-party apps and devices, the article adds.
In May the Department of Justice filed the lawsuit, alleging that Apple monopolizes smartphone markets. From the DoJ announcement: The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, alleges that Apple illegally maintains a monopoly over smartphones by selectively imposing contractual restrictions on, and withholding critical access points from, developers. Apple undermines apps, products, and services that would otherwise make users less reliant on the iPhone, promote interoperability, and lower costs for consumers and developers. Apple exercises its monopoly power to extract more money from consumers, developers, content creators, artists, publishers, small businesses, and merchants, among others. Through this monopolization lawsuit, the Justice Department and state Attorneys General are seeking relief to restore competition to these vital markets on behalf of the American public.
However, Apple says the case should be dismissed because the DOJ’s lawsuit doesn’t meet the legal standards required to prove a violation of Section 2 of the Sherman Act.
From Apple’s filing: Ultimately, this case is foreclosed by longstanding antitrust law. This Court should reject the Government’s invitation to forge a new theory of antitrust liability that no court has recognized, based on five disparate examples of Apple design choices that do not harm smartphone competition. And to the extent the Government seeks to use these five examples to seize unprecedented authority to control Apple design choices more broadly, the case is even more far-fetched. Such a sweeping rule, if recognized, would harm innovation and risk depriving consumers of the private, safe, and secure experience that differentiates iPhone from every other option in the marketplace. The complaint should be dismissed.
