A federal judge on Monday denied Apple's motion to dismiss a major antitrust lawsuit brought by the US government, allowing the case challenging the tech giant's alleged smartphone monopoly to move forward.

U.S. District Judge Julien Neals in Newark, New Jersey, denied Apple's motion to dismiss the lawsuit accusing the company of using restrictions on third-party app and device developers to keep users from switching to competitors and unlawfully dominate the market.

A federal judge on Monday rejected Apple’s request to dismiss the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) antitrust case against the iPhone maker in an early win for the agency. U.S. District Judge Julien Xavier Neals denied the effort by the tech giant to throw out the case,