• by Wendy Davis , Yesterday

The search advertiser California Crane School plans to ask the Supreme Court to revive a lawsuit alleging that Apple and Google conspired to avoid competing in paid search, according to court papers filed Monday with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

"This case presents substantial questions of exceptional importance concerning the application of antitrust laws to agreements between dominant technology companies that affect competition in digital advertising markets," California Crane writes in a petition asking the appellate judges to delay finalizing their recent ruling in favor of Google and Apple.

California Crane's new petition marks the latest development in a battle dating to 2021, when the company alleged that Google's longstanding arrangement to serve as the default search engine for Apple's Safari browser was part of a scheme to avoid competition.

California Crane, which trains crane operators, contended that the tech giants' deal resulted in higher prices for search ads.

U.S. District Court Judge P. Casey Pitts in the Northern District of California dismissed the case against Apple, and sent claims against Google to arbitration because its contract with advertisers requires arbitration of disputes.

Pitts said in his March 2024 ruling that California Crane's allegations -- even if proven true -- wouldn't show that Google and Apple were engaged in an illegal conspiracy.

After Pitts handed down the decision, California Crane asked him to reconsider in light of evidence that emerged during the government's antitrust trial against Google in federal court in Washington, D.C. In that matter, the Department of Justice and a coalition of states claimed Google wrongly monopolized search due to its search distribution deals, including the partnership with Apple.

Pitts rejected California Crane's argument, noting that the evidence in the government's case against Google wouldn't have changed his ruling. (Shortly after Pitts issued that decision, U.S. District Court Judge Amit Mehta in Washington, D.C. found that Google monopolized search as a result of its distribution deals with Apple and other companies.)

California Crane then appealed to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which upheld Pitts' ruling but hasn't yet issued the paperwork that could finalize the case.

The company is now asking the court to delay that paperwork, writing that such a delay "is necessary to preserve appellant's right to seek Supreme Court review and to prevent the irreparable harm that would result from premature termination" of the lawsuit.

"The Google-Apple agreement affects virtually every iPhone and Apple iPad tablet and Apple computer user in the United States, as well as thousands of businesses that purchase search advertising from Google," the advertiser argues. "The Supreme Court's guidance is needed to ensure that antitrust law remains effective in addressing anticompetitive conduct in rapidly evolving digital markets."