A US District Court judge has rejected an emergency request from Apple to halt the Justice Department’s trial against Google for violating antitrust laws. The motion, filed by Apple last week, sought a stay in the trial citing potential harm to its business. However, Judge Amit Mehta denied the request on Sunday, stating that it would only perpetuate Google’s unlawful monopoly and add unnecessary months to the already prolonged trial.
The landmark ruling, made last August, found that Google had entered into exclusive search distribution agreements with various companies, including Apple, to achieve a monopoly in online search. As part of these deals, Apple receives $20 billion annually to make Google its default search engine on its devices.
With this decision, the US Department of Justice’s remedies trial will proceed as scheduled for April 22. The DoJ is considering breaking up Google to dismantle its search engine monopoly, with potential measures including forcing Alphabet, the parent company of Google, to sell off its Chrome browser.
Source: https://www.yahoo.com/news/apple-emergency-request-halt-google-234214504.html