• by Wendy Davis  @wendyndavis, March 3, 2025

The Department of Justice and state attorneys general are asking a federal judge to reject Anthropic's request to offer evidence in an antitrust proceeding that could result in an order requiring Google to sell its stake in the artificial intelligence company.

Anthropic, which develops the large language model Claude, recently sought to submit written testimony from its CEO, Tom Brown, and also file a “friend-of-the-court” brief at an upcoming hearing addressing remedies for Google's monopolization of search.

Prosecutors say in papers filed Friday with U.S. District Court Judge Amit Mehta that they don't object to Anthropic's request to present a friend-of-the-court brief, but argue that the request to submit an affidavit from Brown is untimely, given that the possibility of a forced split with Google was raised in October.

The dispute over Anthropic's role in the upcoming hearing comes in a battle dating to 2020, when federal and state prosecutors charged Google with unlawfully monopolizing search.

Mehta conducted a trial and, in August, 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.

Mehta plans to hold a hearing next month on potential remedies. Last October, prosecutors propsed numerous potential restrictions on Google, including one that could force the company to stop investing in other companies' artificial intelligence products.

Two weeks ago, Anthropic filed a motion asking to participate in the remedies hearing. The company says that restrictions on investments “would have serious consequences” for its ability to compete, and give an “unjustified windfall” to larger competitors, including OpenAI, Meta and Google's Gemini.

The Claude developer also argues it was surprised by prosecutors' proposal because the Google's investments in Anthropic and artificial intelligence generally “were never part of this case.”

But the prosecutors say Anthropic was put on notice last October that a hearing on remedies could lead to a separation from Google.

The prosecutors also argue that granting Anthropic's request now would prejudice them, arguing that there likely isn't enough time to question Brown at a deposition, or obtain additional documents from Anthropic, before the start of the remedies hearing in April.

“To properly respond to Anthropic’s witness declarations, plaintiffs would need both a deposition and additional document discovery. Neither are practically available,” the prosecutors write.

Anthropic made its request shortly after Apple launched a similar bid to intervene in the upcoming hearing by presenting testimony and cross-examining witnesses.

Mehta denied Apple's request, but said the company could present affidavits from witnesses and file a written argument. Apple has appealed that ruling to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, which is considering the matter.