USA vs. Apple: Apple considers major antitrust lawsuit null and void
Apple has neither monopoly power nor is competition being hindered, the company argues. The antitrust lawsuit filed by the US Department of Justice is invalid.
(Image: Sebastian Trepesch)
Apple is going on the counterattack in the major antitrust dispute with the US government: In a letter to the responsible judge, the company has now - before the first meeting of the parties to the dispute - demanded that the lawsuit be dismissed. The case is "far beyond the outer limits of antitrust law", the company complained. It therefore lacked the legal basis to continue the lawsuit. The competent court should not even get involved in "forming a new theory of antitrust liability" (US v. Apple, case number 2:24-cv-04055, United States District Court for the District of New Jersey).
Apple does not see itself as a monopolist
The US Department of Justice accuses Apple of having established an illegal monopoly in the smartphone and especially "performance smartphone market". The company's tactics prevent competition and innovation and lead to higher prices, according to the complaint filed in March. Among other things, the regulators argue that Apple makes messaging with Android artificially worse and suppresses so-called "super apps".
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The US government has failed to provide a suitable market definition and to show that Apple has any monopoly power at all, as the company explains in Apple questions validity of DOJ antitrust lawsuit in bid to dismiss case - 9to5Mac. The iPhone is ultimately exposed to "fierce competition" from Android manufacturers and the cited "performance smartphone market" is merely an "unrealistic invention". In Apple's opinion, the lawsuit also fails to conclusively demonstrate how the company's requirements are intended to prevent competition and to what extent Apple is acting anti-competitively at all.
New rules in the EU force opening
While the US Department of Justice's lawsuit remains within the narrow framework of existing US antitrust law, the EU has taken a new approach and established special rules for the major platform operators. Some of the examples of Apple's allegedly anti-competitive behavior now listed by the US regulators are already prohibited in the EU - including, for example, the restriction of the iPhone NFC interface to Apple Pay.
(lbe)
