The U.S. Department of Justice's antitrust lawsuit against Apple has reached an impasse over document collection. The DOJ fears new evidence from the past year could prove Apple is in the wrong, but Apple argues that document collection has already ended and that further production would only prolong the case.
The two sides could not resolve the dispute on their own and have told the court they have officially reached an impasse. The DOJ wants Apple to produce documents for the months between June 2025, when the production period ended, and 30 days before the discovery deadline, which has been pushed to May 2027. Apple says the scope of production was already extensive, with over 11 million documents from 54 custodians evaluated and more than 2 million produced covering an 18-year period, and that extending it by 22 months would cause further delays.
The court will have to decide whether the DOJ's request for more recent documents is justified or whether Apple is right to hold to the original deadline. Critics note that if more documents are required, the process could keep expanding.
The case has also struggled on the merits. Apple has addressed each of the five antitrust complaints in the initial lawsuit to some extent, including improved cross-platform messaging, RCS support in iOS, and expanded functionality for third-party smartwatches. The DOJ's willingness to seek more evidence has led some observers to question why it believes recent documents would strengthen a case it brought based on proof it already had in 2024.
Source: AppleInsider · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing