Apple will ask a federal appellate court to allow the company to intervene in an upcoming hearing on the Department of Justice's proposal to terminate the company's long-standing search and revenue-sharing partnership with Google.
Earlier this week, U.S. District Court Judge Amit Mehta in Washington, D.C. rejected Apple's bid to intervene, ruling that the company's request was untimely. On Wednesday, Apple initiated an appeal of that decision to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Apple hasn't yet filed its substantive arguments with that court.
The move comes in an antitrust lawsuit dating to 2020, when the Justice Department and a coalition of states alleged that Google monopolized search.
In August, after conducting a trial, Mehta ruled that Google violated antitrust law by arranging to serve as the default search engine on browsers operated by Apple and Mozilla, as well as on Android devices.
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Mehta is expected to soon hold a trial over potential remedies.
The federal government in October proposed numerous restrictions on Google, including that it end a long-running revenue-sharing partnership with Apple. That deal involves Google serving as the default search engine for Safari, and paying Apple around 36% of search revenue for queries originating on Safari. The agreement resulted in an estimated $20 billion payment from Google to Apple in 2022.
Late last month, Apple sought to intervene in the case, arguing that it has a stake in the outcome.
The Justice Department argued Apple's request was untimely, adding that Google would have an incentive to oppose the proposal because its interests in the revenue-sharing agreement are aligned with Apple's.
Mehta sided against Apple, ruling that Apple should have known earlier that the lawsuit would affect its deal with Google.
He ruled that even though Apple can't intervene in the upcoming hearing, it can participate as a friend-of-the-court, and can also file post-hearing submissions. That ruling effectively allows Apple to submit written arguments to the judge, but not to present its own witnesses or cross-examine witnesses for the government or Google.