Apple asks judge to throw out app monopoly lawsuit, says there’s ‘nothing illegal’ about a closed system

Apple asked a federal judge today to throw out a lawsuit originally filed in 2011 that claimed the company has a monopoly over iOS apps by not allowing iPhone users access to an “aftermarket” of applications. Bloomberg reported that U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers did not resolve the matter today, but Apple’s lawyer Dan Wall argued Apple’s “closed” system doesn’t violate antitrust laws:

Apple doesn’t set the price for paid applications, and charging a price for distribution of a product on a new and unique platform doesn’t violate any antitrust laws, said Dan Wall, Apple’s attorney, at yesterday’s court hearing in Oakland, California.

“There’s nothing illegal about creating a system that is closed in a sense,” Wall told U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers.

“Can a consumer go somewhere else to buy Angry Birds for the iPhone?” asked Alexander Schmidt, an attorney representing seven consumers who sued. “If the answer is no, then Apple is a monopolist.”