Apple files motion to dismiss DOJ antitrust lawsuit

3 months ago 63

Apple has asked a national justice to dismiss the Justice Department’s antitrust case against it, claiming that the authorities is asking the tribunal “to authorisation a judicial redesign of 1 of the astir innovative and consumer-friendly products ever made: iPhone.”

The DOJ and 16 authorities and territory attorneys wide claimed successful their March suit that Apple has illegally monopolized the US smartphone market. The authorities claimed Apple broke the instrumentality by maintaining a closed ecosystem for the iPhone successful pursuit of profits and astatine the disbursal of consumers and innovation. The authorities pointed to respective examples successful its complaint, including allegedly suppressing connection quality betwixt iPhones and competing platforms similar Android, and preventing third-party developers from making competing integer wallets for the iPhone with tap-to-pay functionality.

Apple says successful a caller filing that the DOJ’s statement “is based connected the mendacious premise that iPhone’s occurrence has travel not done gathering a superior merchandise that consumers spot and love, but done Apple’s intentional degradation of iPhone to artifact purported competitory threats.” It calls that thought “outlandish” and says that antitrust instrumentality protects its quality “to plan and power its ain product,” alternatively than cater to third-party developers.

And Apple says it has fixed 3rd enactment developers “exceptionally broad” entree to the iPhone platform, “while besides enforcing tenable limitations to support consumers.” Apple characterizes the third-party developers astatine contented successful the ailment not arsenic tiny upstarts, but alternatively arsenic “well-capitalized societal media companies, large banks, and planetary gaming developers, each of whom are formidable competitors successful their ain close and nary of whom person the aforesaid incentives to support the integrity oregon information of iPhone arsenic Apple has.”

Apple lays retired 5 main reasons for which it says the tribunal should disregard the DOJ’s lawsuit:

Apple is not obligated to enactment with immoderate third-party developers, and choosing not to enactment with them is not exclusionary conduct.
The DOJ doesn’t adequately link Apple’s attack to messaging apps, “so-called ‘super apps’”, unreality streaming apps, smartwatches, oregon integer wallets to however consumers determine what smartphone to buy.
Apple does not power capable of the smartphone marketplace to beryllium reasonably considered a monopolist.
The DOJ hasn’t sufficiently shown Apple’s intent successful its attempted monopolization claim.
The DOJ has made its lawsuit overly wide “by making cursory references to galore Apple products and services.”

Apple requests oral arguments to statement its question to disregard the lawsuit. Apple says if the authorities gets its way, it would “harm innovation and hazard depriving consumers of the private, safe, and unafraid acquisition that differentiates iPhone from each different enactment successful the marketplace.”

The DOJ did not instantly respond to a petition for comment.

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