U.S. DOJ antitrust action against Apple spawns class-action lawsuits against tech giant

Spawned by the U.S. DOJ’s antitrust action against Apple, the compan is facing multiple class-action lawsuits that could affect millions of consumers.

Keerthi Vedantam for Kiplinger:
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[A]t least three class-action suits in California and New Jersey were filed on March 22, a day after the DOJ and 16 other state and district attorneys general slapped the iPhone maker with an antitrust suit, charging that it illegally monopolizes the smartphone market and stifles competition. According to the report, the class-action suits bring charges similar to what the government alleges. 

One of the class-action complaints filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California charges that Apple’s smartphones have technological, psychological and expense barriers that make it difficult for users to leave its platform and buy other non-Apple devices.

“By trapping consumers in its ecosystem, Apple has severely restricted competition from other smartphone manufacturers to unlawfully maintain a durable monopoly over the market,” the complaint charges. “As a monopolist, Apple has overcharged hundreds of millions of consumers on smartphones while generating historic returns.”

While these suits are still in the early stages, they are expected to eventually consist of millions of Apple users, experts say.

In general, class actions can take years to litigate, and that is if they are litigated. Some cases result in settlements, and the payout for each class member may not always be significant.

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MacDailyNews Take: The U.S. DOJ’s Apple case is wrong on the facts and law and should never have been brought, but that won’t stop ambulance chasing vermin; nothing ever does.
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