Apple filed an emergency motion to stay the Justice Department’s upcoming remedies trial against Google as it aims to have a bigger voice in the antitrust case. The motion, filed late Thursday, was made as Apple is appealing the district court’s recent denial of its request to play a larger role in the lawsuit.
Apple, in its filing, said that it would be unfairly sidelined in the case if the remedies trial moves forward before its appeal is settled. This trial against Google is set for April, after a federal judge ruled last year it broke antitrust laws in order to uphold its dominance of online search.
If the stay is not granted, “Apple may well be forced to stand mute at trial, as a mere spectator, while the government pursues an extreme remedy that targets Apple by name and would prohibit any commercial arrangement between Apple and Google for a decade,” per Apple’s filing.
This would block Apple from having “the ability to defend its right to reach other arrangements with Google that could benefit millions of users,” the filing added, as well as negatively affect the company’s ability to be compensated for its search deal with Google. Apple, notably, gets paid $20 billion annually to make Google the default search engine on its devices, court documents revealed last year.
Apple would “suffer clear and substantial irreparable harm” if it cannot participate in the remedies trial, the filing suggested.
“Further, Apple will be unable to present its own live testimony or cross-examine witnesses who opine about Apple’s interests and incentives with respect to the general search market,” it continued.
In October, the U.S. Department of Justice said it is considering breaking up Google to dismantle the company’s search engine monopoly.
“The starting point for addressing Google’s unlawful conduct is undoing its effects on search distribution,” the DOJ said at the time. “For more than a decade, Google has controlled the most popular distribution channels, leaving rivals with little-to-no incentive to compete for users.”
When it comes to particular measures, the DoJ could be looking for a federal judge to compel Alphabet, the parent company of Google, to sell off its Chrome browser.
Chrome, according to stats provided by SimilarWeb, is the most popular web browser in the U.S., with 54% of Americans using it as their default browser; the next most-used browser is Apple’s Safari, which 33.4% of Americans use first.
Apple is asking the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to make a ruling on its motion by Feb. 4. The Google remedies trial is set to start on Apr. 22.
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