Federal Court Clears Path for DOJ's Antitrust Lawsuit Against Apple to Proceed
- Sara Montes de Oca
- Jul 2
- 2 min read
A major antitrust case targeting Apple will move forward, following a federal judge’s decision Monday to deny the company’s attempt to halt the proceedings. The ruling represents a preliminary but important step forward for the Department of Justice (DOJ), which is pursuing the tech giant over alleged anti-competitive practices in the smartphone market.
U.S. District Judge Julien Xavier Neals ruled against Apple’s motion to dismiss, rejecting the company’s claims that the DOJ had failed to adequately define its allegations. The lawsuit accuses Apple of unlawfully maintaining dominance by locking users and developers into its tightly controlled ecosystem, limiting competition and consumer choice.
Apple had also challenged the involvement of multiple U.S. states that joined the case, arguing they lacked legal standing. Judge Neals disagreed, concluding both the federal government and the states had sufficiently established their grounds for bringing the case.
At the heart of the judge’s ruling was an acceptance of the DOJ’s framing of two distinct markets in which Apple allegedly exercises monopoly power: the overall smartphone market, and a subset focused on high-end, performance-driven devices. The judge emphasized that while Apple’s legal team pointed to other tech players like Google and Samsung as evidence of competition, such arguments would be more appropriate for later phases in the trial.
“This decision simply allows the case to proceed — it does not determine the final outcome,” said legal analysts familiar with the case.
Apple, for its part, stood by its position. “We believe this lawsuit is wrong on the facts and the law, and we will continue to vigorously fight it in court,” a company spokesperson said.
The DOJ declined to comment on the court’s decision.
The case is one of several high-profile efforts by the Biden administration’s antitrust regulators to scrutinize the business models of dominant tech firms and reshape the competitive landscape in digital markets.
