WASHINGTON, Jan. 22 (UPI) -- Attorneys for tech giant Google are scrambling to seal court documents that show the company paid Apple $1 billion to be the preferred search engine on the iPhone.
A transcript of court proceedings from Oracle Corp.'s copyright lawsuit against Google, uncovered by Bloomberg, show Google paid Apple the sum in 2014 and agreed to split revenues.
Attorneys now say the information is "highly confidential" and "could severely and adversely impact Google's ability to negotiate" similar deals with other companies. Bloomberg said the transcript appeared to be removed from electronic court records after attorneys brought their complaint to the court.
Google said it did not know Oracle's attorney's would disclose "such confidential information" during a Jan. 14 deposition. The company has filed proceedings to have the information redacted from court documents.
"Due to Oracle's failure to provide the notice required under the protective order, Google has been forced to react to Oracle's improper disclosure on-the-fly, and to take immediate steps to limit the potential harmful impact of that disclosure by filing this motion," Google attorneys said. "Google and Apple should not be punished for Oracle's intentional misconduct."
