Apple seeks dismissal of iPhone App Store monopoly lawsuit

The two-year-old lawsuit accuses Apple of monopolistic practices by preventing developers from selling their software at a discounted price anywhere else. Apple takes a 30 percent cut of all content sold through the App Store, and its rules dictate that content providers cannot charge less for the same material sold elsewhere.

But Apple believes the suit should be tossed, according to Bloomberg, because the company doesn't set the price for paid application, and there are no antitrust laws against charging a price for distribution of a product.

Apple asked U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers to dismiss the suit in a hearing held in Oakland, Calif., this week. The same judge will also oversee a separate antitrust lawsuit that accuses Apple's iTunes of holding a monopoly position in the music downloading market.

The original app monopoly lawsuit was filed by seven consumers. An attorney representing the plaintiffs argued against the case being dismissed, noting that iPhone users cannot go anywhere but Apple's App Store to buy Angry Birds for their device.