Washington, March 23 (RHC)-- The U.S. Department of Justice has filed a sweeping antitrust lawsuit against Apple, accusing the tech giant of orchestrating an illegal monopoly in the smartphone industry. 

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the suit.  "Apple carries out its exclusionary, anti-competitive conduct in two principal ways.  First, Apple imposes contractual restrictions and fees that limit the features and functionality that developers can offer iPhone users.  Second, Apple selectively restricts access to the points of connection between third-party apps and the iPhone’s operating system, degrading the functionality of non-Apple apps and accessories. A s a result, for most of the past 15 years Apple has collected a tax in the form of a 30% commission on the price of any app downloaded from the App Store, as well as on in-app purchases.”