Apple Barred From Google Antitrust Trial, $20 Billion Search Deal at Risk (arstechnica.com)
(Wednesday March 26, 2025 @12:45PM (msmash)
from the tough-luck dept.)
- Reference: 0176829463
- News link: https://apple.slashdot.org/story/25/03/26/1411217/apple-barred-from-google-antitrust-trial-20-billion-search-deal-at-risk
- Source link: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/03/apple-barred-from-google-antitrust-trial-putting-20-billion-search-deal-on-the-line/
A U.S. appeals court has ruled that Apple [1]cannot participate in Google's upcoming antitrust trial, potentially jeopardizing a $20 billion annual deal between the tech giants. The DC Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed that Apple waited too long to join the proceedings, filing its request 33 days after the government proposed remedies in the case Google lost last August.
"The delay seems difficult to justify," the judges ruled. While Apple can still submit written testimony and file friend-of-court briefs, it cannot present evidence or cross-examine witnesses as it had sought. At stake is Google's practice of paying Apple approximately $20 billion annually to remain the default search engine in Safari browsers across Apple devices. The government's proposed remedies would make such arrangements impermissible.
[1] https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/03/apple-barred-from-google-antitrust-trial-putting-20-billion-search-deal-on-the-line/
"The delay seems difficult to justify," the judges ruled. While Apple can still submit written testimony and file friend-of-court briefs, it cannot present evidence or cross-examine witnesses as it had sought. At stake is Google's practice of paying Apple approximately $20 billion annually to remain the default search engine in Safari browsers across Apple devices. The government's proposed remedies would make such arrangements impermissible.
[1] https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/03/apple-barred-from-google-antitrust-trial-putting-20-billion-search-deal-on-the-line/
Trillion dollar company (Score:2)
by phantomfive ( 622387 )
Trillion dollar company, can't figure out how to handle the basics of the court system.
Will this affect Mozilla? (Score:2)
81% of the income of the Mozilla foundation comes from Google. Is Google going to be allowed to continue to do that if they are prohibited from doing this? And if not, will Mozilla's CEO destroy the foundation entirely by continuing to collect a massive and unwarranted salary?
Re: (Score:1)
It's ok, Mozilla Corp has some waste projects they can get rid of to cut costs, some kind of mail program or browser that no one has heard of. They have enough saved up to keep their scholarship and advocacy programs. They have their priorities straight.
"the mistake of reifying emptiness with the example of a person who, upon being told that a merchant had nothing to sell, asks if he can buy some of that nothing.”--Nishida Kitaro. All is, of course, dust.
Re: (Score:3)
They could have an event to auction which search engine gets used. Let the companies bid for it, starting with whatever Mozilla wants to see as the minimum pay needed to keep things working. If no one else wants to pay the price, then Google can still get it. People can always pick their own search from within the program, so it's ONLY the default that these lawsuits are complaining about.