DOJ
Lawsuit: Apple Monopolizes US Smartphone Market (Connecting
the Dots: Apple, DOJ, The Federal Trade Commission & Soros Funding, All
Networking)
Newsmax
Thursday,
21 March 2024 11:03 AM EDT
The
Apple store on Fifth Avenue, New York (Dreamstime)
https://www.newsmax.com/finance/streettalk/apple-doj-lawsuit/2024/03/21/id/1158050/
The
Justice Department Thursday announced
a sweeping antitrust lawsuit against Apple, accusing the
tech giant of engineering an illegal monopoly in smartphones that boxes out
competitors and stifles innovation.
The
lawsuit, filed in federal court in New Jersey, alleges that Apple has monopoly
power in the smartphone market and uses its control over the iPhone to “engage
in a broad, sustained, and illegal course of conduct.”
Apple called the lawsuit “wrong on the facts and the law” and said it “will
vigorously defend against it.”
The
suit — which was also filed with 16 state attorneys general — is the latest
example of the Justice Department’s approach to aggressive enforcement of
federal antitrust law that officials say is aimed at ensuring a fair and
competitive market, even as it has lost some significant anticompetition cases.
President
Joe Biden has called for the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission to vigorously
enforce antitrust statutes. The increased policing of corporate mergers and
business deals has been met with resistance from some business leaders who have
said the Democratic administration is overreaching, but it’s been lauded by
others as long overdue.
The
case is taking direct aim at the digital fortress that Apple Inc., based in
Cupertino, California, has assiduously built around the iPhone and other
popular products such as the iPad, Mac and Apple Watch to create what is often
referred to as a “walled garden” so its meticulously designed hardware and
software can seamlessly flourish together while requiring consumers to do
little more than turn the devices on.
The
strategy has helped make Apple the world’s most prosperous company, with annual
revenue of nearly $400 billion and, until recently, a market value of more than
$3 trillion. But Apple’s shares have fallen by 7% this year even as most of the
stock market has climbed to new highs, resulting in long-time rival Microsoft —
a target of a major Justice Department antitrust case a quarter-century ago —
to seize the mantle as the world’s most valuable company.
Apple
has defended the walled garden as an indispensable feature prized by consumers
who want the best protection available for their personal information. It has
described the barrier as a way for the iPhone to distinguish itself from
devices running on Google’s Android software, which isn’t as restrictive and is
licensed to a wide range of manufacturers.
Fears
about an antitrust crackdown on Apple’s business model have contributed to the
drop in the company’s stock price, along with concerns that it is lagging
Microsoft and Google in the push to develop products powered by artificial
intelligence technology.
But
antitrust regulators made it clear in their complaint that they see Apple's
walled garden most as a weapon to ward off competition, creating market
conditions that enable it to charge higher prices that have propelled its lofty
profit margins while stifling innovation.
“Consumers
should not have to pay higher prices because companies violate the antitrust
laws,” 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.”
With
the attempt to rein in Apple's dominance, the Biden administration is
escalating an antitrust siege that has already triggered lawsuits against
Google and Amazon accusing them in engaging in illegal tactics to thwart
competition, as well as unsuccessful attempts to block acquisitions by
Microsoft and Facebook parent Meta Platforms.
Apple's
business interests are also entangled in the Justice Department's case against
Google, which went to trial last fall and is headed toward final arguments
scheduled to begin May 1 in Washington, D.C. In that case, regulators are
alleging Google has stymied competition by paying for the rights for its
already dominant online search engine to be the automatic place to handle
queries on the iPhone and a variety of web browsers in an arrangement that
generates an estimated $15 billion to $20 billion annually.
Now
that the Justice Department is mounting a direct attack across its business,
Apple stands to lose even more.
The
Justice Department is following up an other recent attempts to force Apple to
change the way it runs the iPhone and other parts of its business.
Epic
Games, the maker of the popular Fortnite video game, filed an antitrust lawsuit
against Apple in 2020 in an effort break down the barriers protecting the
iPhone App Store and a lucrative payment system operating within it. Apple has
long collected commissions ranging from 15% to 30% on digital transactions
completed within apps, a setup that Epic alleged was enabled by an illegal
monopoly that drives up prices for consumers.
After
a monthlong trial in 2021, a federal judge ruled mostly in favor of Apple with
the exception of deciding that links to competing payment options should be
permitted inside of iPhone apps. Apple unsuccessfully resisted that portion of
the ruling until the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal in January,
forcing the company to relent. But the concessions that Apple made to comply
with the ruling are still facing a “bad faith” challenge from Epic, which is
seeking an April 30 hearing to ask U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers
to order more changes.
Apple
also had to open up the iPhone to allow apps to be downloaded and installed
from competing stores in Europe to comply with a new set of regulators called
the Digital Markets Act, or DMA, earlier this month but its approach is being
pilloried by critics as little more than an end-around the rules that will
enable it to continue to muscle out real competition. European Union regulators
already have vowed to crack down on Apple if it finds the company's tactics
continue to thwart true consumer choice.
All
of this comes on top of a $2 billion (1.8 billion euro) fine that European
regulators slapped on Apple earlier this month after concluding that the
company had undermined competition in the music streaming through the iPhone,
despite Spotify being the leader in that market.
Connecting
the Dots:
Wilmer
Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr was the lobby firm for Apple Inc.
C. Boyden Gray was
a partner at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr and is a
director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank).
Open Society Foundations was a funder for
the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank) and
George Soros is the founder & chairman
for the Open Society Foundations.
Frances
Fragos Townsend is a director at the Atlantic Council of the
United States (think tank), and was a counsel to the attorney general,
assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District for the U.S.
Department of Justice (DOJ).
Walter E.
Dellinger III was the acting solicitor general for the U.S.
Department of Justice (DOJ) and is a board of adviser’s member for
the American Constitution Society.
Janet Reno was
the attorney general for the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ)
and is a board of adviser’s member for the American Constitution
Society.
Robert Raben was
an assistant attorney general for the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ)
and a director at the American Constitution Society.
Eric H. Holder Jr.
is attorney general at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ)
for the Barack Obama Administration and was a board member for
the American Constitution Society.
Open Society Foundations was a funder for
the American Constitution Society.
George Soros is the founder
& chairman for the Open Society Foundations.
Faith Elizabeth
Gay was a director at the American Constitution Society, a
partner at Sidley Austin LLP and is a partner at Quinn
Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges, LLP.
Michelle Obama was
a lawyer at Sidley Austin LLP.
Barack Obama was an
intern at Sidley Austin LLP and Crystal Nix Hines’s law
school friend.
Crystal Nix Hines is
of counsel at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges, LLP and
was Barack Obama’s law school friend.
Edith Ramirez was
a partner at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges, LLP and is
the chairman for the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
Federal
Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is a division of the U.S.
Department of Justice (DOJ).
William H. Webster was
a director at the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and is an
honorary director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think
tank).
Open Society Foundations was a funder for
the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank) and
George Soros is the founder & chairman
for the Open Society Foundations.
C. Boyden Gray is
a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank)
and was a partner at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr.
Wilmer
Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr was the lobby firm for Apple Inc.
Albert A. Gore Jr. is
a director at Apple Inc. and the chairman for the Climate
Reality Project.
Foundation to Promote Open Society was a funder for
the Climate Reality Project.
George Soros was the chairman
for the Foundation to Promote Open Society.
Resources:
Past Research
Rep.
Ken Buck on D.C.’s Swamp: Politicians Are ‘Bought with Taxpayer Dollars’
(Researchers Note: Follow the Money!) (Past Research
on the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ))
SATURDAY,
APRIL 15, 2017
https://thesteadydrip.blogspot.com/2017/04/rep-ken-buck-on-dcs-swamp-politicians.html
FAKE
NEWS: Google Targets Daily Wire, Other Conservative Sites With Left-Wing Fact
Checks, Immunizes Left-Wing Sites (Past Research on
Apple Inc.)
THURSDAY,
JANUARY 11, 2018
https://thesteadydrip.blogspot.com/2018/01/fake-news-google-targets-daily-wire.html
FAKE
NEWS: Google Targets Daily Wire, Other Conservative Sites With Left-Wing Fact
Checks, Immunizes Left-Wing Sites (Past Research
for Apple Inc.)
THURSDAY,
JANUARY 11, 2018
https://thesteadydrip.blogspot.com/2018/01/fake-news-google-targets-daily-wire.html
Surveillance
in aisle three (Past Research for the Federal Trade
Commission (FTC))
TUESDAY,
FEBRUARY 18, 2014
https://thesteadydrip.blogspot.com/2014/02/surveillance-in-aisle-three.html
