Tough day for Apple as tech rivals join Epic to protest how Apple complied with a judge’s ruling; rumor calls for DOJ to sue Apple tomorrow.
The U.S. Department of Justice is ready to file a lawsuit against Apple as soon as tomorrow. The suit would charge Apple with violating antitrust laws by blocking the company’s rivals from accessing certain hardware and software features of the iPhone. The news of the suit, which will be filed in federal court, was first published by Bloomberg on Wednesday. While Apple has been sued by the DOJ two other times over the past 14 years, this suit is a little different since it accuses Apple of using illegal methods to help the iPhone dominate in certain markets.
Back in January, we told you that the DOJ was on the verge of filing this lawsuit which charges Apple with making it difficult for rival firms to compete against the iPhone. At the time, some of the issues that were mentioned by The New York Times included Apple’s decision to lock competitors out of its iMessage platform, why the Apple Watch works better with the iPhone than other smartphones, and how Apple’s mobile payment system blocks third-party firms from competing with Apple.
