Apple said Tuesday it plans to ask a U.S. judge to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the Justice Department and 15 states in March that alleged the iPhone maker monopolized the smartphone market, harmed rivals smaller and drove up prices.
In a letter to US District Judge Julien X. Neals in New Jersey, Apple said: “Far from being a monopolist, Apple faces fierce competition from established rivals, and the complaint does not allege that Apple have the ability to charge supracompetitive prices or restrict production in the purported smartphone markets.”
In the letter to the judge, Apple said the DOJ is relying on a new “theory of antitrust liability that no court has recognized.”
The government is expected to respond within seven days to Apple's letter, which the court requires the parties to file, hoping to speed up the cases before moving on to potentially more solid and expensive to dismiss a lawsuit.
The Justice Department alleges that Apple uses its market power to get more money from consumers, developers, content creators, artists, publishers, small businesses and merchants. The civil lawsuit accuses Apple of an illegal monopoly over smartphones maintained by imposing contractual restrictions and withholding critical access to developers.
The Justice Department, which had no immediate comment, has previously said Apple charges up to $1,599 for an iPhone and makes a bigger profit than any rival. Officials also said Apple imposes hidden charges on various business partners, from software developers to credit card companies and even rivals like Alphabet's Google, ultimately driving up prices for consumers. .
Apple rejected government claims that the iPhone has kept consumers “locked” into the devices. “Someone unhappy with Apple's limitations has every incentive to switch to competing platforms that apparently don't have those limitations,” the letter said.
“Consumers should not have to pay higher prices because companies violate antitrust laws,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in March. “Unchallenged, Apple will only continue to strengthen its smartphone monopoly.”
© Thomson Reuters 2024
