Apple, who are well known for their theft of patents, is now facing a major investigation by the US Justice Department, who are currently drafting documentation for a probe into Apple’s anti-competitive practices.
For years, Apple has bullied retailers and dictated terms while forcing businesses to pay large sums of money for Apple licenses and fees for selling products via the Apple store. They have also been accused of trying to kill off competing apps.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the investigation into whether Apple has monopoly powers that it abuses began in 2019, resulting in the collection of “a wad” of statements and information from a multitude of brands, including accessory manufacturers, during the past two years.
Well known for not being a good business to deal with, Apple on one occasion ordered millions of dollars-worth of stock for their stores from an Australian manufacturer. Then, when it was being freighted, used a clause in the contract to cancel the order.
Now, US enforcers are going after Apple by escalating their efforts, with more litigators assigned to the case and new requests for documents and consultation with companies who have had to put up with Apple demands.
Last month, Masimo, who own audio Company Sound United, notched up another victory in its continuing conflict with Apple. This time in the form of a favourable ruling from the US Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), which dismissed Apple’s challenges to two Masimo patents on proprietary technology to test blood oxygenation levels.
Masimo accused Apple of infringing on its patents to add a health-related feature to their popular Apple Watch products, with no compensation or licensing arrangement with Masimo.
The latest Justice Department investigation deals in part with Apple’s policies governing mobile third-party software on its devices, which has been the focus of much of the criticism targeting Apple’s competitive practices.
The department is also looking at whether Apple’s mobile operating system, iOS, operates in an anti-competitive way by favouring its own products over those of outside developers, the people said.
Apple’s standard response is that it doesn’t operate its business in a way that hurts developers.
The Wall Street Journal claims that a key question mark exists around the department’s Apple investigation because of the involvement of its top antitrust official, Jonathan Kanter.
The agency initially sidelined Kanter, who was confirmed in November 2021 as assistant attorney general for the antitrust division, from overseeing the Apple case because of his prior representation of clients who have accused Apple of anti-competitive behaviour, the people said.
The department has subsequently studied whether Kanter could be allowed to oversee the investigation and any lawsuit against Apple, the people said.
It’s now tipped that he will be involved in any action against Apple.
One area of inquiry is the experience of app developer Tile, which sells consumer-tracking devices, people familiar with the matter say.
Apple, who now has their own tracking product, has been accused of trying to “nobble” Tile’s app business.
In an iOS update launched in 2019, Apple updated its Find My tracking app, a step that brought the company more into competition with Tile.
As part of its update, Apple began prompting users whether they wanted to allow Tile’s devices to track them.
Apple’s Find My app is on iPhones by default and doesn’t continuously ask for user-tracking permission.
Then, in 2021, Apple released a product called an AirTag, a small device similar to those sold by Tile that can be used to track anything using the Company’s Find My app.
This led to a major fall in sales at Tile.
A new European Union law, called the Digital Markets Act, is aimed at limiting tech Companies like Apple from taking advantage of their presence in digital markets such as Apple’s App Store for the iPhone and iPad.
