Apple asks to participate in Google’s upcoming antitrust trial – SiliconANGLE

Apple Inc. has asked to participate in an upcoming antitrust trial that will focus on Google LLC’s practices in the search market.

Reuters reported the request today, citing a court document filed on Monday.

In August, a federal judge found that Google maintains an illegal monopoly across the search engine and search text advertising segments. One focus of the ruling was a set of agreements that the company maintains with handset makers. Under those contracts, the handset makers must set Google as the default search engine on their devices.

Apple is one of the companies with which the Alphabet Inc. unit has inked such an agreement. According to Bloomberg, Google pays the iPhone maker billions of dollars per year as part of the contract. Those payments are part of the reason Apple plans to join the upcoming antitrust trial.

The trial will determine how Google should change its business practices to comply with antitrust rules. The Justice Department, which is leading the litigation, will ask the court to scrap Google’s default search engine agreement with Apple. This means that the iPhone maker would no longer receive payments from Google, which is what it could potentially avoid by joining the litigation.

The Justice Department argues that the agreement should be scrapped because it disincentives Apple from building a competing search engine. In Monday’s court filing, the iPhone maker stated that it wouldn’t seek to compete with Google even if the contract were to end. Apple cited the “enormous start-up resources involved in entering the general search market” as one reason for its decision. 

During the trial, Apple hopes to present testimony from two or three witnesses along with relevant documents. The company explained that the decision to join the litigation is motivated by concerns “Google can no longer adequately represent Apple’s interest.” Apple is worried Google won’t focus on their default search engine agreement because it will prioritize other aspects of the litigation. 

“Plaintiffs’ proposed search distribution remedies are just one among many issues Google now faces — with other proposed remedies, such as divestment of Google Chrome, posing an even greater threat to Google,” Apple explained. “Google therefore is likely to prioritize — and deprioritize — certain of its defenses.”

Last week, Google offered a set of antitrust remedies that it positions as an alternative to the Justice Department’s proposal. The search giant is offering to loosen its default search engine agreements by making them nonexclusive and allowing companies such as Apple to revisit their terms annually. At the same time, Google would keep paying the iPhone maker to keep its search engine the default option for iOS users.

The trial is set to begin in April. 

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