Just a few years ago, a high-stakes court case involving Apple and Google would have found the companies on opposing sides, but not today. Apple's and Google's interests are strongly aligned here, to the tune of $20 billion.

The DC Circuit Court of Appeals has blocked Apple’s efforts to intervene in the federal antitrust trial against Google that jeopardizes Apple’s lucrative search exclusivity deal, Ars Technica reports.

Apple will not be able to intervene in an upcoming antitrust hearing that could affect its $20 billion annual search deal with Google, because its lawyers took too long to make the request.