"If this trend continues, the US technology sector's business model of providing 'cloud' Internet-based services to enterprises, governments, and educational institutions worldwide will be substantially undermined," Microsoft said.

Lawyers for Apple and Cisco filed a brief on Friday. The lawyers said some servers for Apple's iCloud service and Cisco are in other countries.

The lawyers said the ruling puts "Apple and other providers in the untenable situation of being forced to violate one nation's laws to comply with another.

In court papers last week, Verizon said the ruling, if allowed to stand, "would have an enormous detrimental impact on the international business of American companies, on international relations and on privacy."

It said the ruling "could cost US businesses billions of dollars in lost revenue, undermine international agreements and understandings, and prompt foreign governments to retaliate by forcing foreign affiliates of American companies to turn over the content of customer data stored in the United States."

In court papers, AT&T said the ruling threatened to provide law enforcement with "a global information access tool without bounds."

In papers, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a civil liberties group, said the government's "approach poses a grave risk to privacy."

(With Inputs from PTI)

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