Having been denied full inclusion at the forthcoming trial to determine Google’s future, Apple has filed a motion to delay the whole proceedings, reports AppleInsider.
A federal judge Monday denied a motion by Apple to intervene as a defendant in a looming remedy trial for fellow tech giant Google and its monopoly over the Internet search market, reports Courthouse News.
U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta ruled that Apple had waited too long to file their motion and granting the company’s request would cause significant delays to the case’s already packed schedule. Apple made the request on Dec. 23, 2024, seeking to defend its “property interest” in a billion-dollar exclusivity contract with Google that makes the search engine the default option on its Safari browsers across its devices.
Mehta explained in his ruling that Apple’s motion was untimely and thus he must deny the motion to intervene. He said the tech giant should have known from the outset of the antitrust sui that the suit would “directly affect its contractual rights.”
The key part of Apple’s full new court filing is that Judge Metha was wrong. “Apple moved to intervene promptly once it became clear its interests were no longer adequately protected,” says the filing.
From Apple’s court filing: Although Apple understands that this Court intends to adhere to the “strict confines of the [C]ourt’s Scheduling Order,” Order Denying Limited Intervention at 16, Jan. 27, 2025, ECF No. 1153, Apple has no choice but to move for a stay of these proceedings to protect its rights pending appeal. Absent a stay, Apple will suffer irreparable harm: the deprivation of its right to participate as a party in the remedial phase of this case moving forward, including possibly at the trial itself, while its undisputed property rights are adjudicated. These harms are magnified by a position.
Plaintiffs revealed in a recent meet-and-confer with Apple. Specifically, Plaintiffs represented that they intend to challenge this Court’s decision permitting Apple to submit up to two affidavits during the trial. Courts have commonly granted stays pending appeal of orders denying intervention, and this Court should do the same here. In the alternative, the Court should at minimum afford Apple full access to the record as a nonparty until the D.C. Circuit rules.Plaintiffs have stated that they oppose this stay request and any expedited evaluation of this motion; Google states that they take no position on Apple’s motion. Apple respectfully asks the Court to order Plaintiffs to respond on an expedited basis so this Court can resolve this motion as early as February 4, 2025. Consistent with the time considerations emphasized in this Court’s order denying limited intervention, once its appeal is formally docketed, Apple also intends to file with the D.C. Circuit a motion for stay pending appeal and for expedition of the appeal, to permit resolution of Apple’s intervention before the remedies trial. In the event this Court grants a stay pending appeal while Apple’s stay motion is pending in the D.C. Circuit, Apple will immediately notify the D.C. Circuit and withdraw that request.
Should Apple’s motion be denied by the court, its one to the DC Circuit will continue and there is no clear schedule for that, notes AppleInsider.
