Apple faces antitrust suit from US Justice Department over alleged smartphone monopoly
The Justice Department accuses Apple of engineering a monopoly in the smartphone market that unfairly stifles competitors and innovation.
Apple is facing a major antitrust lawsuit from the US Justice Department this week. The suit alleges that Apple has purposefully created a monopoly in the smartphone market, stunting innovation and competition in the industry. The case is the latest in President Joe Biden’s administration’s direction to the Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission to aggressively enforce antitrust regulations.
The lawsuit from the US Justice Department was filed this week, as reported by the Associated Press. The suit takes aim directly at Apple’s iPhone ecosystem, alleging that the company has monopoly power over the smartphone market and has used that power to “engage in broad, sustained, and illegal course of conduct.” The suit was filed with 16 state attorneys general. However, Apple has rebuffed the allegations of the lawsuit. The company claims the Justice Department’s suit is “wrong on the facts and the law.” Apple intends to “vigorously defend against it.”
Source: Epic Games
Apple has showed up a lot in court as of late for what is often called its “walled garden” of tech. While Apple undoubtedly has some of the most highly featured and quality products in the mobile device market, it has also built up a variety of rules and systems that many have argued stifle developers. Epic Games has been in a variety of long and intense legal battles over that very topic, and just recently scored a win against Apple when the company attempted to terminate Epic’s developer account over the EU’s Digital Markets Act. That action brought an investigation from the EU that forced Apple to reinstate Epic’s account, which it will now use to launch an Epic Games Store app and Fortnite on iOS.
With this latest suit from the US Justice Department putting heavy scrutiny on Apple’s iPhone dominance in the smartphone market, it will be interesting to see what comes of it, if anything. With Apple’s stated intention to fervently fight the suit, the Justice Department will have its work cut out for it to prove the case. Stay tuned as we continue to follow for further updates.
-
Shacknews
replyTJ Denzer posted a new article, Apple faces antitrust suit from US Justice Department over alleged smartphone monopoly
