Apple and the Justice Department (DOJ) are headed to court, after the company balked at the DOJ’s information request from Apple in its antitrust suit against Google, reported Politico.
DOJ lawyers told US District Judge Amit Mehta they have reached an “impasse” with the company over documents despite weekly negotiations since February.
According to Politico, Apple’s lucrative agreement to set Google as the iPhone’s default search engine is a key to the Justice Department’s case. DOJ alleges that Google pays Apple between US$8 billion and US$12 billion each year for the default spot, a sizable chunk of the iPhone maker’s US$57 billion in profit last year.
Related: US Judge Says Google Request For Microsoft Documents Is Relevant
In a court filing late Tuesday, August 17, Apple accused DOJ lawyers of “manufacturing an impasse” by making requests that were “unnecessarily burdensome.” The iPhonemaker alleged that the Justice Department has demanded it search emails and documents of top executives for terms relating to “nearly all aspects of Apple’s business over the last 20 years,” creating millions of hits.
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