Judge Thinks Apple Will Lose E-Book Price-Fixing Case

[wraggster]

Apple could face a difficult time winning its court case against the U.S. Department of Justice over e-book pricing (http://slashdot.org/topic/cloud/judge-slaps-apple-in-e-books-case/), according to the federal judge overseeing the trial. 'I believe that the government will be able to show at trial direct evidence that Apple knowingly participated in and facilitated a conspiracy to raise prices of e-books (http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/23/us-usa-apple-ebooks-idUSBRE94M19A20130523),' U.S. District Judge Denise Cote said during a May 23 pretrial hearing, according to Reuters, 'and that the circumstantial evidence in this case, including the terms of the agreements, will confirm that.' Apple's legal counsel is a bit perturbed over her comments. 'We strongly disagree with the court's preliminary statements about the case today,' Apple lawyer Orin Snyder wrote in a statement also reprinted by Reuters. The Justice Department has asserted that Apple (http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2013/February/13-at-171.html), along with those publishers, conspired to raise retail e-book prices in tandem 'and eliminate price competition, substantially increasing prices paid by consumers.' Apple battles Amazon in the e-book space, with the latter company achieving great success over the past few years by driving down the price of e-books and Kindle e-readers; while Apple co-founder insisted in emails to News Corp executive James Murdoch (https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/702951-email-exchange-between-steve-jobs-and-james.html) (son of Rupert Murdoch), that Amazon's pricing was ultimately unsustainable, the online retailer shows no signs of flagging with regard to its publishing-industry clout.
http://apple.slashdot.org/story/13/05/24/1710241/judge-thinks-apple-will-lose-e-book-price-fixing-case