Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times,
Apple’s attempt to intervene in litigation related to Google’s search engine monopoly was denied by a district court on Sunday when a judge refused to stay the remedial proceedings in the case.
Back in October 2020, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and a coalition of state attorneys filed a case against Google, accusing the tech company of engaging in anti-competitive practices.
Google was accused of establishing exclusive agreements with browser developers, mobile device manufacturers, and wireless carriers which prohibited them from pre-installing rival search engines. This resulted in most U.S. devices coming preloaded with Google search, negatively affecting competitors in the market.
In August 2024, Judge Amit Mehta from the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia sided with the plaintiffs, ruling that Google violated antitrust laws.
“Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly,” he wrote, saying that the default search engine setting “is extremely valuable real estate.”
A hearing on remedies in the case was scheduled for April 2025.
In December, Apple filed a motion to intervene as a defendant in the case, aiming to take part in the remedial phase of the litigation. However, the motion was denied by Mehta, who called the request “untimely.”
Apple then filed an emergency motion seeking to stay the remedial proceedings pending its appeal of Mehta’s order denying the intervention request. On Feb. 2, Mehta denied the stay request as well.
“First, Apple has not established a likelihood of success on the merits” for the stay, Mehta wrote.
The company also failed to show it stands to suffer “irreparable harm absent a stay,” he said.
“Because Apple has not satisfied the ‘stringent requirements’ for obtaining the ‘extraordinary relief’ of a stay pending appeal, its motion is denied.”
Apple claims the December motion was filed to protect the company’s existing contract with Google and its ability to enter into future contracts with the search engine giant.
Google pays the company to keep its search engine default on Apple’s Safari mobile and desktop browsers, according to a court document from the August 2024 monopoly decision.
“In 2022, Google’s revenue share payment to Apple was an estimated $20 billion,” said the document.
“This is nearly double the payment made in 2020, which was then equivalent to 17.5 percent of Apple’s operating profit.”
Meanwhile, a potential breakup of Google’s business could be on the cards during the remedy phase of the litigation.
In November, the DOJ together with 38 states and territories outlined a proposed remedy that would force Google to divest its Chrome browser.
Regulators argued that Google uses the browser to reinforce its monopoly.
At the time, the government was reportedly looking at potential divestiture of Google’s Android operating system.
Google opposed these suggestions, saying the forced sale of Chrome and Android would “endanger the security and privacy of millions of Americans, and undermine the quality of products people love.”
The move may end up chilling the company’s investment in artificial intelligence, it said.
The Epoch Times reached out to Google and Apple for comment on the recent ruling.