Apple fights NFL 'Sunday ticket' subpoena on grounds it could reveal corporate secrets
Amber NeelyEddy Cue (Source: Re/code)
Apple wants a U.S. judge to reject a subpoena that may force it to reveal trade secrets linked to its unsuccessful bid to stream the NFL's "Sunday Ticket" programming.
Apple's lawyers have submitted a filing in California federal court opposing a subpoena by residential and commercial "Sunday Ticket" subscribers. The subscribers have accused the NFL and its teams in a multibillion-dollar lawsuit of violating U.S. antitrust laws in the distribution of Sunday Ticket.
According to Reuters, the filing argues that the plaintiff's efforts to subpoena Apple's vice president of services, Eddy Cue, could be "unduly burdensome." Specifically, they have expressed concerns that the party in question was seeking to subpoena "irrelevant, disproportionate, and competitively sensitive" information in their subpoena.
"Plaintiffs cannot show that Mr. Cue has unique, non-duplicative knowledge of the facts in the underlying litigation," Apple's lawyers told the court.
Apple is not directly involved with the case, but plaintiffs are looking for information to build a better lawsuit against Google's YouTube TV, which now holds the right to the "Sunday Ticket" programming.
Apple had tried to bid for the programming, but ultimately, the deal fizzled out when Apple requested more flexibility in programming than the NFL would allow.
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4 Comments
Jeez, can any business deal occur in this country without triggering a lawsuit?
Maybe GatorGuy (our resident expert on all things Google-Alphabet) can explain what is going on here?
"The Lawsuit" against YouTube TV wants essentially the same information the potential plaintiffs want from Apple. What they're looking for is what restrictions, if any, the NFL put on the Google streaming contract, hoping to prove the same restrictions were in effect when DirectTV held the contract. In effect is the NFL controlling the price.
According to the attorneys: “Evidence that the NFL imposed restrictions on Google will support plaintiffs’ claims that the NFL imposed these same restraints on DirecTV during the class period, to the detriment of consumers"
Google is arguing the same point that Apple is, that the production of the requested information would be “unduly burdensome.”
Meanwhile, the NFL appears to have trouble getting the touch controls to work consistently within the NFL+ app. Every time I use the iPad version of the app the touch sensitivity will just completely disappear at random times and the app has to be relaunched.
Given that Apple lost its bid, I see no reason to make it give up any information, much less trade secrets. Since it did not get the NFL rights, it could not have cheated to get those rights.