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, hurt smaller rivals and raised prices.
In a letter to U.S. District Judge Julien X. Niles in New Jersey, Apple noted that “Apple is not a monopoly but faces stiff competition from well-known competitors, and the complaint does not allege that Apple has the ability to charge supracompetitive prices or limit release in the intended smartphone markets”.
In a letter to the judge, Apple said the Justice Department is relying on a new “theory of antitrust liability that no court has recognized.”
The government is expected to respond to Apple’s letter within seven days, which the court is asking the parties to do, hoping to speed up the case before moving on to potentially more robust and expensive attempts to dismiss the suit.
The Justice Department alleges that Apple is using its market power to extract more money from consumers, developers, content creators, artists, publishers, small businesses and merchants. The civil suit accuses Apple of an illegal smartphone monopoly maintained by contractually restricting developers and withholding critical access to them.
The Justice Department, which did not comment, previously said Apple charges as much as $1,599 for the iPhone and makes more profit than any competitor. Officials also said that Apple charges hidden fees to a variety of business partners, from software developers to credit card companies and even rivals such as Alphabet’s Google, in a way that ultimately raises prices for consumers.
Apple has rejected government claims that the iPhone keeps consumers “tethered” to the devices. “Someone unhappy with Apple’s limitations has every incentive to switch to competing platforms that supposedly don’t have those limitations,” the letter said.
“Consumers should not have to pay higher prices because companies are violating antitrust laws,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in March. “If not challenged, Apple will continue to strengthen its smartphone monopoly.”
© Thomson Reuters 2024
