Apple has requested to participate in Google’s upcoming U.S. antitrust trial concerning online search, arguing that it cannot solely rely on Google to defend the revenue-sharing agreements that send billions of dollars to Apple each year for making Google the default search engine on its Safari browser.
According to court filings in Washington on Monday, Apple’s legal team confirmed that the company does not plan to create its own search engine to compete with Google, regardless of whether the payments continue. In 2022 alone, Apple received an estimated $20 billion from its agreement with Google.
Apple intends to call witnesses to testify in the trial scheduled for April. Prosecutors aim to prove that Google must take significant actions, such as selling its Chrome web browser and potentially its Android operating system, to restore competition in the online search market.
“Google can no longer adequately represent Apple’s interests. Google must now defend against a broad effort to break up its business units,” Apple stated.
The Department of Justice’s prosecution of Google is a landmark case that could fundamentally change the way users access online information.
