Apple Moves to Fight US Effort to Upend Search Deals With Google

Apple Inc. is seeking to fight the US over a proposal in its monopoly case against Alphabet Inc.’s Google that would prohibit the search giant from entering into commercial deals with the iPhone maker.

Apple wants to participate as a party in the dispute to defend what it called its “contractual interests,” according to a Dec. 23 motion in the US District Court for the District of Columbia.

The company said Google could no longer adequately represent those interests, while arguing that the Justice Department’s efforts would hurt consumers and stifle innovation in areas such as artificial intelligence.

The move came months after the judge overseeing the suit found that Google illegally monopolized the search market through exclusive deals with firms such as Apple to make its search product the default option on smartphones and web browsers.

In order to remedy the alleged harms, the Justice Department proposed last month breaking up parts of Google’s business. It also pushed for restricting payments to distributors such as Apple—a remedy that Apple says would terminate an existing Google-Apple revenue sharing agreement and limit their ability to enter into new ones.

That “threatens a sea change in Apple’s contractual relationships with Google and threatens to undermine Apple’s ability to serve its users,” Apple said.

The company argued the proposal exceeds the bounds of the court’s decision and rests on “incorrect assumptions” that Apple would create a search product if not for the arrangement with Google. Terminating a deal making Google the default search tool on Apple’s web browser will have zero impact on its interest in general search, Apple said, citing costs and the development of artificial intelligence.

Apple wants to provide testimony of two to three witnesses, relevant documents, and a briefing for the court. Judge Amit Mehta, who is overseeing the Justice Department’s case, is planning to hold hearings on proposed remedies in April.

Google in a separate Dec. 20 court filing blasted the DOJ’s proposal as “extreme,” urging the judge to use a lighter touch when doling out penalties.

Any remedy should allow competing browsers like Apple’s Safari “to have the freedom to do deals with whatever search engine they think is best for their users,” Lee-Anne Mulholland, the company’s vice president for regulatory affairs, wrote in an accompanying blog post.

Under the current deal, Google is the default search option on Apple’s web browser, and Google pays Apple a percentage of its net advertising revenue generated from searches stemming from Apple products, according to Apple’s Dec. 23 filing.

Alphabet paid $20 billion in 2022 for Google to be the default search engine on Safari, Bloomberg News reported in May.

Apple is represented by Latham & Watkins.

The case is United States v. Google LLC, D.D.C., 1:20-cv-03010-APM, 12/23/24.