• by Wendy Davis  @wendyndavis, March 24, 2025

Siding against Apple, a federal appellate court ruled that the company waited too long to seek to intervene in an upcoming antitrust hearing that could end its long-standing search and revenue-sharing partnership with Google.

The ruling, issued Friday by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, upholds a decision by U.S. District Court Judge Amit Mehta in Washington, D.C., who said in January that Apple could submit written testimony and file friend-of-the-court briefs, but couldn't present live testimony or cross-examine witnesses at the hearing, slated to begin in April.

The appellate ruling comes in an antitrust battle dating to 2020, when the U.S. Department of Justice and a coalition of states alleged that Google monopolized search.

In August, after conducting a trial, U.S. District Court Judge Amit Mehta in Washington, D.C. 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.

The federal government in October proposed numerous remedies to Google's monopoly, including that the company 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.

In late December, Apple sought to intervene in the hearing over remedies, arguing that it's entitled to fully participate because it has a stake in the outcome of the case.

Mehta rejected that request as untimely. 

Apple appealed, arguing that if it couldn't fully participate in the hearing, it would “be a mere spectator” in a fight that could affect its multi-billion dollar partnership with Google. That deal resulted in an estimated $20 billion payment from Google to Apple in 2022 alone.

Apple also argued that it wasn't clear until late November -- when the government filed a more detailed proposal for remedies -- that prosecutors would seek to end Apple's search deal with Google.

The circuit court noted in its seven-page ruling that Apple didn't seek to intervene until 33 days after that November proposal.

That 33-day delay “seems difficult to justify,” the appellate judges wrote.

The appellate court said it would hold off on finalizing the order until March 28, to give Apple time to seek further review.