(Bloomberg) — Apple Inc. lost its bid to throw out an antitrust case brought by the US Justice Department and a group of state attorneys general on Monday, a victory for the aggressive posture taken during the Biden administration and carried on by enforcers under President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n
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The lawsuit is an existential threat to Apple and could upend its highly lucrative mobile hardware business. The iPhone maker is accused of violating antitrust laws by blocking rivals from accessing hardware and software features on its popular devices. The government claims Apple has used its power over app distribution and the iPhone\u2019s features to thwart innovations that would have made it easier for consumers to switch phones.<\/p>\n
\u2018Monopoly Power\u2019<\/p>\n
In this early stage of the case, \u201callegations of this nature, which indicate that Apple acts in a manner to protect its monopoly power in the smartphone and performance smartphone market, are sufficient,\u201d US District Judge Julien Xavier Neals in New Jersey wrote in a 33-page ruling.<\/p>\n
Neals also said the allegations about Apple\u2019s intent to monopolize the smartphone market are strong enough to continue. The \u201ccomplaint includes numerous statements allegedly made by Apple executives regarding the barriers set in place to maintain its monopoly.\u201d<\/p>\n
An Apple spokesperson said in an emailed statement, \u201cWe believe this lawsuit is wrong on the facts and the law, and we will continue to vigorously fight it in court.\u201d<\/p>\n
A DOJ representative declined to comment.<\/p>\n
The ruling tees up years of litigation. Neals has not yet set a trial date, but antitrust cases can take years to resolve, including appeals. The DOJ sued Alphabet Inc.\u2019s Google over its search business in October 2020, with a judge ruling four years later the company violated the law.<\/p>\n
Apple could still seek to settle the case \u2014 filed in March 2024 \u2014 with the Trump administration, though the Justice Department\u2019s new antitrust head, Gail Slater, said at her confirmation hearing that she plans to largely continue the strict enforcement of her predecessors.<\/p>\n
In addition to the Google search suit, the US has targeted Google\u2019s advertising technology business as well as Visa Inc., Live Nation Inc. and Thoma Bravo-backed real estate software company RealPage Inc.<\/p>\n
Story Continues <\/p>\n
Apple\u2019s Argument<\/p>\n
In a November hearing, lawyers for Apple urged Neals to toss the case because it failed to state how the iPhone maker\u2019s alleged monopoly has harmed any consumers or developers.<\/p>\n
Apple\u2019s lawyers also argued that Apple has a legal right to choose with whom it does business and it has no duty to boost the fortunes of its competitors.<\/p>\n
Apple has refused to support cross-platform messaging apps, limited third-party digital wallets and non-Apple smartwatches, and blocked mobile cloud streaming services, according to the lawsuit.<\/p>\n
The judge said those claims can proceed.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo the extent Apple argues it can limit access to its \u2018own proprietary technology available to third parties,\u2019 the court finds this contention is a factual dispute that must be resolved through discovery,\u201d Neals wrote, alluding to pretrial information exchanges.<\/p>\n
The DOJ says the case is not about Apple refusing to do business with rivals. Rather, it accuses Apple of using its dominant position in the smartphone market to block competitors, a lawyer for the DOJ said at the hearing. The Justice Department and the states argue that Apple\u2019s conduct was a deliberate attempt to box out rivals and build an illegal \u201cmoat\u201d around the iPhone.<\/p>\n
The case is USA v. Apple Inc., 24-cv-04055, US District Court, District of New Jersey.<\/p>\n
(Updates with Apple comment in fifth paragraph.)<\/p>\n
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\u00a92025 Bloomberg L.P.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(Bloomberg) — Apple Inc. lost its bid to throw out an antitrust case brought by the US Justice…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":28523,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[4960,3638,64,24527,5005,67,132,68,24526],"class_list":{"0":"post-28522","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-apple-inc","9":"tag-bloomberg","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-julien-xavier-neals","12":"tag-president-donald-trump","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-us","16":"tag-us-justice-department"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28522"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28522\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}