The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has expressed disapproval of Apple’s recent legal move to obtain evidence from Samsung Electronics in South Korea, as part of an ongoing antitrust investigation. Apple's request, submitted to the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, comes after Samsung’s U.S. branch declined to provide documents that Apple asserts are crucial for clarifying competition in the smartphone and smartwatch markets.
Apple claims that the records it seeks would shed light on user platform switching and the alleged anticompetitive effects of its policies. The request invokes the Hague Evidence Convention to facilitate acquiring documents from Samsung’s Korean parent company. However, the DOJ argues that Apple has delayed this request for too long, suggesting that it is unlikely to be resolved before the fact discovery deadline. Furthermore, the DOJ warns that if the court approves Apple’s motion, the risk of late evidence could fall on Apple, complicating the timeline of the trial.
In its filing, the DOJ emphasizes that the lengthy foreign judicial process should not justify any extensions to the discovery period, particularly given Apple’s nine-month wait to file the petition.