Apple and the US Department of Justice have asked a court to step into a dispute over how far forward in time Apple's document production must reach in the government's antitrust lawsuit. The two sides filed a joint notice reporting "an impasse concerning the cutoff date for Apple's productions in response to all Requests for Production."
The case dates to March 2024, when the Justice Department, joined by 15 states and the District of Columbia, sued Apple. The plaintiffs allege the company illegally maintains a monopoly in the smartphone market by restricting competition, limiting interoperability with rival products and making it harder for consumers to switch to competing devices. Apple denies the allegations.
Discovery, the pretrial phase in which each side exchanges relevant evidence, has been contentious. Earlier disagreements covered how many Apple employees' records should be searched, whether Apple must produce documents held outside the US, and Apple's efforts to obtain records from 14 federal agencies, which the government continues to challenge. The parties have also reportedly held settlement talks behind the scenes.
According to the DOJ, the two sides first settled on a June 20, 2025 cutoff for the documents Apple would have to produce. That date was chosen when fact discovery was expected to finish by July 31, 2026. The deadline has since been extended twice and now falls in late May 2027.
Given the longer timeline, the government wants Apple to update its production to include records created up to 30 days before fact discovery closes. The plaintiffs say sticking with the earlier date could keep them from obtaining evidence of Apple's allegedly "ongoing anticompetitive conduct." They argue they should not be disadvantaged by a delay that Apple requested, and that Apple's alternative of considering supplementation case by case is unworkable, would likely spark more disputes and is inconsistent with its duty to supplement under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(e).
Apple counters that the June 2025 date was part of a negotiated agreement and that the government's demand would effectively restart document discovery, adding "months of delay into this case." The company says it substantially completed its document productions in the government action in 12 months, using a large investment of resources and hundreds of contractors.
Apple argues that re-collecting from 54 custodians and numerous other sources, then searching, reviewing and producing materials covering a 22-month period, would take several more months. Producing documents up to 30 days before the close of fact discovery is "simply not feasible," it says, because that would require new collection, searches, review and production in the final month, after almost all depositions are complete.
Instead, Apple says it is willing to consider targeted requests for additional documents on a case-by-case basis. Apple also rejected the DOJ's suggestion that it alone is responsible for the schedule extensions, noting that the government has not yet produced documents in response to most of Apple's requests, which were "served over 15 months ago."
