Apple defense to take over in final days of e-book antitrust case

With just four days left in the U.S. government's antitrust case against Apple, the Department of Justice will rest and Apple's defense team will take over this week.

Apple Senior Vice President of Internet Software and Services Eddy Cue first took the stand last week, and will return on Monday to complete questioning from Apple's attorneys. Following that, the DOJ is scheduled to rest its case, and Apple's defense will take the reins.

A list of witnesses scheduled to take the stand were presented on Monday by Apple 2.0. They include:

Rob McDonald, head of Apple's U.S. iBookstore operations
Eric Gray, director of iTunes operations
Theresa Horner, head of digital content at Barnes & Noble
A trio of experts are also scheduled to testify about Apple's effect on the e-book market

Apple's defense team will have three days to bring all of its witnesses to the stand. Summations are scheduled for Thursday, after which U.S. District Judge Denise Cote will write her decision, expected to be handed down within a matter of weeks.

The DOJ has attempted to prove that Apple was involved in a price fixing scheme, colluding with five of the world's largest book publishers to falsely inflate the cost of e-books. Apple entered the e-book business in 2010, when it launched the first iPad.

When he took the stand last week, Cue said Apple originally looked to adopt the wholesale model used by market leader Amazon, which allows retailers to price e-books after buying the titles from content owners. But after discussing the terms with publishers, the company decided to instead employ the agency model, allowing content owners to set prices under a most-favored-nations clause, which precluded them from selling the same titles to another reseller for less without offering the same to Apple.

42 Comments

ericthehalfbee 4489 comments · 13 Years

About 11 years ago

Now things get interesting. Aple has done a good job handling the DOJ witnesses (making fools of some in the process). I can't wait to see what they present.

jragosta 10472 comments · 17 Years

While they will certainly put up a vigorous defense (although it's really obvious that there's not enough evidence to convict them, anyway), it really doesn't matter. If they lose, this one goes straight to the appeals court. The judge clearly pre-judged the case.

gatorguy 24609 comments · 13 Years

[quote name="jragosta" url="/t/158089/apple-defense-to-take-over-in-final-days-of-e-book-antitrust-case#post_2347593"]While they will certainly put up a vigorous defense (although it's really obvious that there's not enough evidence to convict them, anyway), it really doesn't matter. If they lose, this one goes straight to the appeals court. The judge clearly pre-judged the case.[/quote] In case anyone wants to familiarize themselves with the appeals process in antitrust cases. Some of the precedents were established in the DoJ case against Microsoft in 2004. http://www.justice.gov/atr/public/speeches/204136.htm

james0378 19 comments · 11 Years

From what I've heard, it sounds like Apple is in the clear. Unfortunately, I don't think the facts will matter much. In the end, whether in this trial or others to come, Apple will be found guilty of collusion, criminal mischief, murder, larceny, tax evasion, money laundering, drug trafficking, you name it. They'll throw it all against the wall and see which false claim sticks. Whatever doesn't stick will probably hurt Apple's reputation anyway. Kind of like someone being falsely convicted of sexual harassment. They may be innocent but their name is still slightly tarnished.

[quote name="james0378" url="/t/158089/apple-defense-to-take-over-in-final-days-of-e-book-antitrust-case#post_2347597"]From what I've heard, it sounds like Apple is in the clear. [/quote] That's my guess.