The Department of Justice’s trial against Apple is set to wrap up witness testimony by the end of Wednesday, with both sides presenting closing arguments on Thursday, June 20. Apple executive Eddy Cue is finishing up on the witness stand Monday morning (now under the questioning of Apple’s lead lawyer Orin Snyder) after which the government will rest its case. Fortune lists those scheduled to testify for Apple, including vp, digital content at Barnes & Noble Theresa Horner; head of the iBookstore Rob McDonald and iTunes director of operations Eric Gray; and expert witnesses Michelle Burtis, Ben Klein, and Kevin […]
Legal
More Court Documents: BN’s Agency Plans, and More
We have a few more documents from the Apple ebook pricing trial of interest to share, though they do not relate directly to yesterday’s testimony. No one from Barnes & Noble has testified in court yet (at one point Teresa Horner was due to be called as a defense witness). One of the threads of Apple’s argument is that publishers (including Hachette) as well as other retailers (primarily Barnes & Noble) were readying plans to move to an agency model with or without Apple — and prior to executing Apple contracts. This defense exhibit is an email from BN ceo […]
From Court: States Say What They Want From Apple; DOJ Moves for Macmillan Settlement Approval
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 […]
In Court: Cue Takes the Stand
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 […]
From Court: Random House and Apple, In Documents
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 […]
Jobs v. Jobs: Two Versions of the Same Mail
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 […]