\n<\/p>\n
Apple urged a federal judge to dismiss the Department of Justice\u2019s antitrust case against it, saying the government\u2019s complaint includes speculative arguments and the government doesn\u2019t plausibly argue it has monopoly power.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cThe court is allowed to use common sense,\u201d countered DOJ counsel Jonathan Lasken at a hearing in New Jersey on Wednesday. \u201cWe\u2019re here today based on the idea that it\u2019s not plausible that [Apple] has monopoly power, but instead is at the mercy of supposed global behemoths who are a fraction of its size.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The government and more than a dozen states sued Apple earlier this year for maintaining an illegal monopoly<\/a> in the smartphone market, ultimately driving up prices and locking consumers into its ecosystem. It pointed to five examples of its alleged anticompetitive conduct, including degrading message quality between iPhones and Android phones and limiting third-party smartwatch functionality with the iPhone.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Apple has argued<\/a> the case against it is overly speculative and amounts to a \u201cjudicial redesign\u201d of the iPhone. It\u2019s sought to downplay its own influence, saying the government doesn\u2019t allege a large enough smartphone market share to add up to monopoly power. It characterizes the third-party developers who claim they\u2019ve been harmed as \u201cwell-capitalized social media companies, big banks, and global gaming developers.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n US District Court Judge Julien Xavier Neals will now have to decide whether the DOJ\u2019s case against Apple can proceed to a trial in its current form, or whether some \u2014 or all \u2014 claims should be thrown out. He said he hopes to make that decision by January, according to Bloomberg<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The wildcard, of course, is that a new administration will soon take over, with President-elect Donald Trump\u2019s DOJ continuing the case argued by the agency under President Joe Biden. But Trump and likely members of his administration have dubbed \u201cBig Tech\u201d a persistent enemy, and Trump\u2019s DOJ brought suits against other tech companies in his first term \u2014 so Apple likely can\u2019t count on a reprieve.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n