Apple and the Department of Justice have notified the court of an impasse over the cutoff date for Apple's document production in their ongoing antitrust lawsuit. The DOJ, joined by 15 states and the District of Columbia, sued Apple in March 2024, accusing the company of illegally maintaining a monopoly in the smartphone market by restricting competition and limiting interoperability. Apple denies the allegations.
The dispute centers on whether Apple must update its document production beyond the previously agreed June 20, 2025 cutoff, given that fact discovery has been extended to late May 2027. The DOJ argues that adhering to the original cutoff could prevent it from obtaining evidence of Apple's allegedly ongoing anticompetitive conduct. Apple counters that the cutoff was part of a negotiated agreement and that expanding production would introduce months of delay, requiring new collections from 54 custodians and numerous sources.
Apple proposes handling additional requests on a case-by-case basis, which the DOJ calls unworkable. Both sides have also reportedly engaged in settlement talks behind the scenes.
Source: 9to5Mac · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing