A federal judge dismissed Apple on Monday of his appeal against the United States Ministry of Justice, a decision which opens the way to a trial of the manufacturer of the iPhone for abuse of dominant position in the United States.
• Read also: Cancellation of the Tech Giants Tax: “Yes, Canada has sold too fast,” deplores Antoine Robitaille
The US government had assigned the Cupertino group (California) in March 2024 for monopolistic practices intended to maintain and strengthen the position of the iPhone in the cell phone market.
Apple called in August and requested the cancellation of the entire procedure.
He argued that the Ministry of Justice did not provide the proof that the group was in a monopoly situation and that it was guilty of decisions aimed at establishing its domination.
The Californian company also argued because of being limited only to the United States was not relevant, because, on a global scale, the phones equipped with the Android operating system (Samsung in particular) were significantly more numerous than the iPhone.
But judge Julien Xavier Neals, Federal Judge of Newark (East), on the contrary, said that the American government had provided enough elements to characterize a monopoly and a monopolistic strategy.
His decision dismisses the main obstacle to the holding of a trial, the date of which has not yet been set, but which should not take place for several years.
Prosecutors of nineteen states, as well as that of the federal capital, Washington, have joined this procedure.
The accusation criticizes the technological group in particular for slowing down the development of applications and services usable on several supports, beyond the Apple ecosystem.
The government says it is based on internal documents demonstrating that the company has been knowingly acted to rule out competition and innovations likely to weaken its economic model.
“We believe that this action is not justified by law or by the facts, and we will continue to oppose it firmly in court,” reacted a spokesperson for Apple to AFP.
After decades of lull, the American authorities have launched, in recent years, a dam shooting against the tech giants to question what they consider as distortions of competition.
After being declared in a monopoly situation on online research, in August 2024, Google is waiting to know its sentence in the coming weeks, as well as in another file on advertising.
As for Meta, he is prosecuted by the American Competition Authority, the FTC, for monopoly in the field of social networks. His seven -week trial ended at the end of May and the Menlo Park (California) group is expecting a verdict in the coming months.
