The US Justice Department has lodged an antitrust lawsuit against Apple, claiming that the tech giant has created a monopoly with its iPhone, harming its consumers, developers, and competitors, Variety reported.
The government filed an 88-page lawsuit against the technology giant saying, “Each step in Apple’s course of conduct built and reinforced the moat around its smartphone monopoly.”
“The cumulative effect of this course of conduct has been to maintain and entrench Apple’s smartphone monopoly at the expense of the users, developers, and other third parties who helped make the iPhone what it is today,” read the lawsuit.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) has accused Apple of engaging in anticompetitive behavior to maintain consumer loyalty to iPhones. This conduct allegedly includes blocking cross-platform messaging apps, restricting compatibility with third-party wallets and smartwatches, and disrupting non-App Store programs and cloud-streaming services. Filed in the US District Court for the District of New Jersey, the lawsuit has garnered support from 15 state attorneys general, and the attorney general of Washington, DC.
The lawsuit aims to obtain an injunction to halt Apple’s purported anticompetitive practices and to secure necessary “relief as needed to cure any anticompetitive harm.”
The lawsuit seeks an injunction blocking Apple’s alleged anticompetitive practices as well as “relief as needed to cure any anticompetitive harm.”
“Consumers should not have to pay higher prices because companies violate the antitrust laws,” US Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement. “We allege that Apple has maintained monopoly power in the smartphone market, not simply by staying ahead of the competition on the merits, but by violating federal antitrust law. If left unchallenged, Apple will only continue to strengthen its smartphone monopoly,” added Garland.
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