Not unlawful maybe, but unfair? I think the answer is yes.
It's already happened.
Being politically influential, vertically integrated, well organized, and able to negotiate cohesively as a cartel, the Seven Sisters were initially able to exert considerable power
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Sisters_(oil_companies)
Apple is more powerful, more influential, more vertically integrated and more capitalized than any of those companies.
Do you believe that a US judge can issue a summary judgment against a defendant based solely on fairness, when based solely on case law they are not guilty of any crime? (Apple is the defendant, and US law is biased in favor of defendants in various respects.) I believe that such a finding, whether by a judge or a jury, usually results in the judgment being overturned by the appellate court.
In the context of the Seven Sisters example, then, the simple-test question for finding a judicial bridge for the connection between the Seven Sisters and Apple is below. I use "without basis in law" as a superset of "unfair but not unlawful". I would hazard a guess that the answer to this question is "No." but I haven't researched it further.
"In cases where the US member(s) of the Seven Sisters were defendants, did a judge or jury ever find against them without basis in law, and in such cases, were any of those judgments allowed to stand by the appellate court?"
As Italian, I don' t believe USA can deliver justice at all (I can make tons of examples).
Se also Assange.
To make it clear: this is a discussion board, someone said it's not unlawful, I replied unlawful it's not the only thing that matters.
For example: in US it is not unlawful to not pay maternity leave, it's unlawful in Europe.
It's unfair in general, so, in my opinion, unfair laws should be changed to make society more fair (as fair as possible)
That's the point.
The power Apple detains make opposing to some of their rules unfair (and impossible) hence the laws are somewhat lacking somewhere.
You probably don' t know him, but Enrico Mattei was killed because he broke the seven sister's oligopoly.
When companies are too powerful, they are dangerous.
When they have global power, they are globally dangerous.
If you want a judge to make a decision based on nonexistent law, you will need Congress to pass a law that they can use first.
The judge’s point is that this - “walled gardens” - is an economically sound and widely-used practice that has not previously been found to be unlawful, and therefore (likely) no basis exists to find in favor of Epic’s claims at this stage of the proceedings.
(Usual disclaimer applies: I am not your lawyer, I will not prepare additional citations, please seek legal counsel before taking action based on anything written above.)