DOJ

In a letter to Judge Cote posted to the court docket on June 12, assistant attorney general for the State of Texas David Ashton responded to Apple’s request earlier in the week — one that mirrored our own — as to what, exactly, the states want out of the ongoing trial. Ashton said the states are “well aware the Court will decide only issues of liability and injunctive relief as part of the trial, and do not seek relief different than that sought from the Department of Justice.” Mostly they want a judgment that sets them up to seek money […]

Apple executive Eddy Cue took the stand Thursday morning to answer questions about his negotiations with the five settling publishers and offer his version of how Apple came to agency model and what they expected from publishers. (As an aside, Cue too came in court attire, rather than his standard jeans and casual shirt–to be honest, the grey suit and white shirt is a much better look than his standard “dress like Steve” uniform.) Government lawyer Lawrence Buterman immediately tried to challenge Cue’s assertions that he “learned for the first time about allegations of publisher meetings, phonecalls and dinners” only “after […]

With the distinct possibility that no one from Random House will be put on the stand in the Apple ebook pricing trial, the documents depicting the publisher’s discussions of different business model possibilities with Apple could take on increasing importance. As Apple’s Keith Moerer testified on Tuesday, Random House was the one company he personally told that “Apple was willing to do an agency deal with Random House and that Random House was free to do business, including a wholesale model, without holdbacks with any other retailer that they might choose to do so.” Here are some of the key […]

A small number of communications from Apple’s late ceo Steve Jobs have taken on great import in the ebook pricing trial, in part because Jobs cannot testify to what he meant. As we reported, on Tuesday the government showed a January 14, 2010 reply to Eddy Cue that “was draft by Mr. Jobs,” as the government attorney put it. Regarding increased tiers with “pricing I think will push them to very edge and still have a credible offering in the market,” as Cue put it, the Jobs document reads: “I can live with this, as long as they move Amazon […]

After an afternoon of fairly dry probing of economic regression analyses, the real sparks in Wednesday’s Apple ebook pricing trial came at the very end of the day, in a battle over whether Madeline McIntosh of Random House will be called to testify. Originally the government was going to call McIntosh — as well as Random House ceo Markus Dohle — but they decided not to, and lead defense attorney Orin Snyder says they “never told us.” The government will accept McIntosh’s written testimony without questioning her, which technically leaves no opportunity for the defense to address her unless she […]

Hachette Book Group’s David Young was all dressed up and ready to testify on Tuesday after Macmillan’s John Sargent (sporting a second, red tie), but a last-minute switch put Apple executive Keith Moerer on the stand instead. Fortunately Young came equipped with a copy of George Pelecanos’s forthcoming October book THE DOUBLE. Among the day’s learnings — though ruled strictly not admissible in court because it is hearsay — is Moerer’s reminder that Steve Jobs “loved iBooks; in particular a book, Winnie the Pooh that was in color.” Jobs made a more meaningful appearance at the end of the day […]