Apple filed an emergency motion on Sunday to stay the antitrust case against Google, seeking to protect the lucrative deal it has with the tech giant to be the default search engine in iOS. However, a U.S. District Court judge denied the request, saying Apple hasn’t demonstrated satisfactory reasons for its motion.
The case began when the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) sued Google during U.S. President Donald Trump’s first term, alleging monopolistic behavior in online search and advertising. The DOJ claimed that by 2021 alone, Google paid $26.3 billion to companies like Apple to secure its position as the default search engine on mobile devices and online browsers. In August last year, Google was found liable, and now the case is moving into the remedies phase, set to begin in April.
The judge had already denied Apple’s request to participate in the remedies phase, citing the company’s failure to file its motion on time, and instead suggested that it could file briefs after the hearings to express its views. In response, Apple filed the motion, seeking a stay of any potential action the DOJ might take.
“If Apple’s appeal is not resolved until during or after the remedies trial, 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,” the company wrote in the filing.
Among the proposed resolution the DOJ presented to the judge were to force Google to divest its Chrome browser; end default search agreements; prevent it from investing in potential competitors (such as advertising rivals, search-linked AI tools or other search engines); and ensure that Android doesn’t favor Google’s own advertising services or search engine.
The resolution would prohibit Google from providing its search products with preferential access to related products or services that it owns or controls, such as Android. Google would also not be able to use its ownership and control of Android – or any other product or service – in favor of its search engine. The ruling would impose a review after five years and if search competition has not increased, Google could be forced to sell Android as well.
In defense, Google has said that the DOJ’s definition of display advertising on the open web doesn’t take into account connected TV, mobile or social media, where it competes with giants such as Amazon and Meta. The company also believes its display business was weak and experiencing slow revenue growth due to competition from companies such as Criteo, Meta and The Trade Desk.
If the proposed resolution is approved, Google stated that it would have to cool its investment in AI. It also noted the decision would hurt innovative services, such as Mozilla’s Firefox, whose business depends on charging Google for search rankings.
