Apple urged a federal judge to dismiss the Justice Department's antitrust case against it, saying the government's complaint contains hypothetical arguments and the government does not argue that it has monopoly power.
“The court is allowed to use common sense,” countered DOJ lawyer Jonathan Laskanen at a hearing in New Jersey on Wednesday. “We are here today based on the idea that it is not plausible [Apple] has monopoly power, but is instead at the mercy of so-called global giants that are a fraction of its size.”
Government and more than a dozen states Apple was sued earlier this year for maintaining an illegal monopoly In the smartphone market, prices are finally rising and consumers are locked into its ecosystem. It pointed to five examples of its alleged anti-competitive conduct, including declining messaging quality between iPhones and Android phones and limiting third-party smartwatch functionality with the iPhone.
Apple has argued The case against it is highly speculative and amounts to a “judicial redesign” of the iPhone. It has sought to minimize its own influence by saying the government does not claim a large enough smartphone market share to add monopoly power. It characterizes the third-party developers it claims have been harmed as “well-capitalized social media companies, big banks, and global gaming developers.”
U.S. District Court Judge Julian Xavier Niles must now decide whether the DOJ's case against Apple can proceed to trial in its current form, or whether some – or all – of the claims should be dismissed. He said he hopes to make that decision by January. according to bloomberg,
Of course, the wildcard is that a new administration will soon take over, with President-elect Donald Trump's handling of the DOJ continuing the case debated by the agency under President Joe Biden. But Trump and potential members of his administration have branded “Big Tech” a frequent foe, and Trump's DOJ has filed lawsuits against other tech companies in his first term — so Apple can't possibly count on relief. .