Apple and the U.S. Department of Justice are at an impasse over the deadline for collecting evidence in an antitrust case, and the dispute is being handed over to the courts.

Abstract:

Apple, the U.S. Department of Justice and plaintiffs from multiple states submitted a joint notice to the New Jersey Federal Court on October 21, stating that the two parties were unable to reach an agreement on how long Apple should continue to submit internal documents. The Department of Justice requires Apple to update documents and information to cover all relevant personnel and other sources until 30 days before the end of the fact investigation; the current fact investigation period has been extended to late May 2027.

The two parties previously agreed that the tentative deadline for Apple’s documents is June 20, 2025. At that time, it was planned to basically complete the submission of documents by December 2025, and the fact investigation was expected to end at the end of July 2026. The Justice Department said that as courts have repeatedly extended investigation deadlines, continuing to use the original document deadline will make it difficult to obtain evidence of Apple's subsequent actions; the case seeks an injunction from the court to stop what the Justice Department alleges continued anti-competitive behavior.

Apple opposed a comprehensive recollection of documents, saying the company had reviewed more than 11 million documents from 54 document custodians and dozens of other sources and submitted more than 2 million documents, spanning about 18 years. Apple believes that supplementing nearly 22 months of materials will require re-collection, retrieval, and review, which will take several months and may trigger a new round of witness interviews and further delay litigation; the company expressed its willingness to consider targeted supplementary requests with clear scope, clear relevance, and controllable burden. Apple also countered that it was not entirely to blame for the prolonged proceedings, noting that the Justice Department had yet to respond to most of its document requests.

This case began in 2024. The Department of Justice and states accused Apple of maintaining a monopoly in the smartphone market by restricting super apps, cloud games, cross-platform messaging, third-party smart watches and digital wallets; Apple denied breaking the law. The dispute only concerns discovery arrangements in litigation and is not a ruling on antitrust charges. The parties have asked the court to find that negotiations have reached an impasse, and the court has yet to decide on the scope of the documents.