U.S. Federal Puppet Denise Cote: ‘Apple’s reaction to the existence of a monitorship underscores the wisdom of its imposition’

“Apple Inc’s various objections to a court-appointed antitrust monitor in a case involving fixing e-book prices only confirm the importance of his work, a federal judge said on Thursday,” Joseph Ax reports for Reuters.

“‘If anything, Apple’s reaction to the existence of a monitorship underscores the wisdom of its imposition,’ U.S. District Judge Denise Cote wrote,” Ax reports. “Cote’s comment came in a 64-page opinion explaining why earlier this week she had rejected Apple’s request to stay an order installing an external compliance monitor, after she found Apple liable for conspiring to fix e-book prices. The judge said she would allow Apple until Tuesday to file an appeal of her decision to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.”

“A lawyer for the company, Theodore Boutrous, said on Monday that Apple planned to appeal,” Ax reports. “A Justice Department spokeswoman said the government was pleased with Cote’s decision.”

Read more in the full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: That there’s one sonamabitchin, crazy-ass, cronyistic puppet!

Lady Elaine Fairchilde (left), U.S. Federal Puppet Denise Cote (right),or vice versa
Lady Elaine Fairchilde (left), U.S. Federal Puppet Denise Cote (right), or vice versa

For the whole sordid story in concise form, please read: Apple’s Star Chamber: An abusive judge and her prosecutor friend besiege the tech maker.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “David E.” for the heads up.]

Related articles:
In pretrial view, judge says leaning toward U.S. DOJ over Apple in e-books case – May 24, 2013
Lawyers have complained for years that Judge Denise Cote pre-judges cases before she enters the courtroom – August 14, 2013

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73 Comments

    1. As soon as you insert that NSA code into iOS, Apple, you’ll start winning all kinds of U.S. rulings, helpful vetoes and court cases.

      (Brought to you by Carl’s Jr.)

    2. Yes, this reads like an old USENET brawl.

      For example, Cote’s sound byte is “Apple doesn’t believe in a Monitor”, whereas Apple’s point has been that the individual nominated to be Monitor is ethically corrupt and has overstepped their legal bounds – – and further, that the Judge has been overtly biased inpurposefully ignoring these issues.

      Ultimately, the test will be to get rid of this judge, get a new monitor and make sure that the scope of the monitoring is appropriate for the infraction. If Apple then still has issues, then the DOJ has a good case.

      Afterall, it isn’t like the Govt doesn’t have a hundred other Judgets that could take over this case, nor that there’s not another hundred other ***private contractors*** who would be not only more techically qualified, but more than happy to be the Monitor at a lower hourly rate.

      1. You seem to be missing the point. The point is Apple is to be punished. That is direct from Obama. There is pretty clearly no “anti-trust” case against a company with a tiny fraction of the e-book market. But there is the fact that we now have, under Obama, a Justice Department that targets people based on political reasons. The IRS targets Obama’s opponents. The DoJ sues the state of Arizona for the simple fact that it enforced federal law. The DoJ did not indict Jon Corzine CEO of MF Global which stole $2 billion of private account money of small investors to cover his own bad stock picks. He did and he walks. Oh yeah, we was a former Democrat Governor/Senator and he was Obama’s biggest contributor in NJ.

        The government now is run as a racket, like the mob. Apple is being targeted for reasons that only Obama truly knows. But this has nothing to do with actual law breaking. It is a lesson to private companies about the importance of being on the right side of Obama. Our Leader. The Messiah.

        1. Hey, I’m from NJ, so I’m quite well versed on the realities of illegal Political Retribution activities.(Bridgegate!).

          I wholeheartedly agree that this all appears to be motivated by politics, and not the law, but let’s also be an equal-opportunity moralist and recognize that both the Dems and Repubs have their hands dirty – its merely a question of which so-called “Scandal” we happen to be talking about today.

        2. Let’s recognize this. Scooter Libby was hounded by a Special Prosecutor for about 4 years and convicted for something the special prosecutor knew he did not do. Even now, nobody can articulate what he did. Democrat crimes, like Jon Corzine stealing $2 billion in small investor private account funds, are shrugged aside. What did the CEO have to do with his firm taking $2 billion in other peoples money to pay off his bad investments. Nothing of course, he is a major Obama donor. What about Obama, and his bald faced lies about what he did to save our people in Libya. He went to bed and blamed all on a video. Now, we know he did absolutely nothing to help them and he lied and still lies about this. And he sold Obamacare on a complete pack of lies. For this a CEO would be in jail. And he should be. But there is no depth to which a Democrat can go and be held accountable. So, you are wrong. Republicans are expected to obey the law even laws that can’t be explained (Libby) and Democrats are allowed to murder and steal with no consequences.

        3. First, let us recognize that a crime was indeed committed under the Palme affair … and that no one has really been punished. Sure, Scooter was the “Fall Guy” and he was given a pardon by Bush after things quieted down — and whoever was guilty has gotten away with it, scott-free.

          Second, on Corzine, he should also see jail time AFAIC – – and while we are at it, so too for a whole bunch of 2008 Wall Street “Investment” guys who have also walked away scott free. Do you really want to suggest that they all happen to be Democrats too? I doubt it.

          On the Libya Benghazi deaths, you’re 0 for 3. True, they were poorly handled after-the-fact because of media pressure for immediate gratification – – but that isn’t what caused the attack, nor has there been any clear negligence of duty found: I’m sure that the apolitical working level professionals are quite upset at themselves…and do note that I did say “apolitical”: there’s thousands of folks who have done their jobs through this administration, the one before it, the one before that and so forth: to insinuate that they don’t try to do their job the best they can with the resources that they are given is insulting.

          FYI, if you’ve not well enough trained to have had noticed, the USA has susceptibile (and “soft”) assets all over the world…I could name some specific things that I’ve personally seen, but that would be aiding the enemy.

          Finally, your morally corrupt partisanship comments reveal your hypocrisy, which puts you on the wrong side of this argument and history. YMMV, but my ethical posture is that two wrongs never make a right.

          And in bringing this back full circle to Denise Cote, by the ethical rules that I’ve been required to perform my job by for the past 30 years, she is undoubtedly in clear violation of the part which states “Real Or Perceived Conflicts of Interest”.

          -hh

        4. No – you are 100% wrong on all accounts.

          1. Scooter Libby did nothing to Valerie Plame. Richard Armitage, subordinate of Colin Powell, outed her to Robert Novak the reporter. Patrick Fitzgerald learned this during the Libby investigation but never changed the focus to the true criminal, if there can be such a thing for a person who drives in the main entrance to the CIA every day. But Armitage did it. H and Powell both knew it. And they both let the innocent man be prosecuted.

          2. Jon Corzine was not indicted for a $2 billion theft because he is a Democrat. Period.

          3. Benghazi – Obama first let his people have no security, then he let them die, then he lied for about a year blaming a video. He is the man who caused the deaths.

        5. I just reviewed your earlier response and found another complete lie. Scooter Libby was never pardoned. He served time, after having to spend millions of his own money defending himself against a charge everyone now knows he did not commit. He did nothing wrong. And had to serve time for it.

          Richard Armitage outed Valerie Plame. He was never prosecuted .

          Patrick Fitzgeral, the Special Prosecutor, knew early on Scooter Libby did not do anything with respect to Valerie Plame but continued to prosecute him. Fitzgerald is a corrupt prosecutor, but fits in well.

          The entire affair was manufactured by Joe Wilson and Valerie Plame as a way to attack the Bush administration over something that was nothing. Valerie Plame was not a spy. She was an administrator who drove her car every day into the CIA HQ.

          You have shown yourself to have a total disregard for facts. Obviously you are a Democrat. You believe there is global warming (despite no evidence), you believe Obamacare is great despite the fact you can’t keep your doctor, it costs more and you can’t keep your insurance plan. You and your ilk, who walk in total willful ignorance of facts every day, are killing this country.

        6. My apologies for misreading Scooter’s Wiki page – he didn’t get pardoned after all – but President Bush did in fact commute Libby’s 30-month prison sentence.

          It looks like he did NO time in jail whatsoever – – but do free free to correct me with the exact dates.

          Similarly, there were also legal fees to be paid – – but no clear evidence as to *who* actually paid for them: the commuted prison term is proof of “Friends in High Places”, so I’d be utterly shocked if Scooter paid for it all himself – – it was probably paid for him (more buying of his silence).

          Insofar as the rest of your diatribe, you’re again making irresponsibly unsubstantiated allegations, in Ad Hominem style – – which discredits you far more than it does me.

          Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to get back to work, in SERVICE to my country.

        7. Scooter Libby was prosecuted for a “fictitious crime” or a lie. He did nothing wrong. Patrick Fitzergald did. And I would say that Joe Wilson did more to out his wife than Scooter Libby, who did nothing.

          The one person who did was Richard Armitage, buddy of Colin Powell. Both of those crooks stood silent knowing what Armitage did and not saying anything while Libby was falsely accused and falsely convicted.

    3. How can Apple complain about the billing rate of the monitor when they themselves have the highest paid attorney in the world at $1,800 an hour? That’s 50c per second of that guys time.

      They got caught, now they are throwing a little temper tantrum like a four year old girl-child.

      1. WRONG! Tell that to my Mac LC. IIci, IIfx, Quad700, Quad 800, Quad 8150, Mac 6100av, PowerTower Pro, Mac 9500’s, WallStreet PowerBook, etc…. Etc…. ETC….!!!!! You Dope.

        1. Lecture you? piss off. You’re about as annoying as I am and I have an education.

          I don’t give a whit how big of a cheerleader you are, you come off like a shrew running around our feet gnashing and gnawing and shitting the floor.

  1. I really think that her arrogance is setting her up for some sort of comeuppance. The monitor appears to be a friend, is making an excessive amount of money out of the deal and appears to be acting outside the scope of his brief…. Hopefully the old adage “Pride commeth before a fall” will out. There seems to be a general feeling she’s well outside her ability to remain objective. Prejudging, disallowing evidence, corruption, nepotism. Supreme Court sooner rather than later!

  2. I am reminded of the phrase “Never argue with a crazy mind”.

    But in this case I think it was entirely appropriate for Apple to emphasize that they have been dealing with a crazy mind. As someone pointed out yesterday, this is only going to help their appeal.

    Judge Cotes: You gave up your ethics and your oath to defend the US Constitution. You went crazy. 😯

  3. Amazon had 90% of the E-book market when she made her ruling. Apple was just trying to get into the business. With only 10% of the market, there is no way they could be held to a charge of “controlling the market.” except for cote’s weird version of economics. This sort of nonsense is what causes major American companies to relocate their headquarters.

    1. Let’s deal in facts here. When Apple entered the ebook market, Amazon controlled 90% of the ebook market and was dictating the prices at which ebooks could be sold. The publishers of the ebooks could not even sell their own products at a product from their own websites in competition with Amazon’s predatory pricing. The publishers did collude to demand a higher floor, but Amazon merely ignored them and continued to sell the best sellers below cost, undercutting everyone else. Apple’s entry into the ebook market and their offering of the agency method of sales, where the publishers retained ownership of their products, set their sales prices on their products and Apple merely took a commission of 30% on each sale to cover costs and profit, and offering the publishers another sales venue with large numbers of available customers, rather than the monopoly market of Amazon, made the plans of the publishers to break Amazon’s stranglehold possible. When Judge Cote made her idiotic ruling had orchestrated the conspiracy, contrary to evidence that Apple even though Apple had attended no meetings of the publishers and was late to the game, Amazon’s market share had dropped to around 60% with other players including Apple AND Amazon adopting the agency model. Overall average ebook prices had actually DECLINED. . . yet Cote decided that consumers had been harmed by higher prices for ebooks, ruling that APPLE had conspired to fix prices, something Apple had no hand in doing, while ignoring the true monopolist’s predatory price fixing from Amazon that was doing demonstrable damage to the market place.

  4. How many times has California voted overwhelmingly in favor of a certain policy, based on citizen action and voting, only to have a Federal judge overturn the expressed will of the people? This has happened repeatedly in the past 20 years, judges overruling the will of the people and inserting their personal will in its place.

    Now, this judge appointed by the anti-private sector Obama, finds against the best example of free market success. Repeatedly. And this is an “anti-trust” case against Apple, a clear minority market share player in the e-book segment. Obama has to really hate on Apple to put the force of the Federal government against them when this market is clearly dominated by Jeff Bezos and Amazon. I guess we know who gave Obama more.

    This is all part of the new tyranny. Anti free market. Anti law. Just plain old Chicago thug tactics used against those with money who don’t pay to play.

    1. OBlama has an ax to grind with AAPL. Why? Steven Paul Jobs. OBlama … like ever other delusional narcissist, met his match with Steve.
      Steve had the BALLS to Speak “TRUTH” and Gave THE MIGHTY FINGER to that inept BOZO! You are SHIT Obama. OBlama is a Self-absorbed Pustule Wound On the Human Race.

      OBlama CARE!!! MY ASS! ….hurts.

      Just 3 states short

      a constitutional convention by the
      > states to get back to the laws of the Constitution.
      > This will take less than thirty seconds to read. If you agree,
      > please pass it on. This is an idea that we should address.
      >
      > 35 STATES SO FAR…..IT’S GROWING
      >
      > One message to forward!
      >
      > Governors of 35 states have filed suit against the Federal
      > Government for imposing unlawful burdens upon them. It only takes 38
      > (ofthe 50) States to convene a Constitutional Convention.
      >
      > This will take less than thirty seconds to read. If you agree,
      > please pass it on. This is an idea that we should address.
      >
      > For too long we have been too complacent about the workings of
      > Congress. Their latest stunt is to exempt themselves from the
      > Healthcare Reform that they passed … in all of its forms. Somehow,
      > that doesn’t seem logical. We do not have an elite ruling class that
      > is above the law. I truly don’t care if they are Democrat,
      > Republican,Independent or whatever. The self-serving must stop.
      >
      > If each person that receives this will forward it on to 15 people,
      > in three days, most people in The United States of America will have
      > the message. This is one proposal that really should be passed
      > around.
      >
      > Proposed 28th Amendment to the United States Constitution:
      > “Congress shall make no lawthat applies to the citizens of the United
      > States that does not apply equally to the Senators,Representatives of
      > Congress; and, Congress shall make no law that appliesto the Senators
      > and/or Representatives that does not apply equally to the
      > citizens of the United States ….”

        1. no, you can’t. it isn”t a constitutional convention. It is Fifth Amendment convention to propose specified amendments as directed by the state legislatures. it is NOT a free-for-all rewriting of the constitution. That is prohibited by the constitution itself in this form. The delegates are named by the legislatures with specific directives and can only act as directed. They are not permitted to act beyond the charge they are given. They are creatures of the states.

  5. Its a beautiful day in the neighborhood …. A beautiful day in the neighborhood ……. Would you be mine? Could you be mine? Won’t you be Google’s neighbor? Mr. Mole WONT NEVER BE MY NEIGHBOR!!! ScumBAG Lobbyist. Your deceit will become legendary. It all a matter of TIME.

  6. crazy:

    — How hard is it to monitor iBook Prices? Just check the books on the app !

    — Yet the dude wants $1100 bucks an hour (Plus admin fees plus more for additional lawyers and assistants) paid by apple and the bill for a few weeks is already way over 100,000. (Apple’s argued that this simply gives him incentive to waste time and do stuff not required )

    — He wants to interview Al Gore (who is on the BOD and doesn’t do day to day running of Apple as Apple has explained over and over again) and Ive (Ive? what the heck has Ive got to do with iBooks especially iBook pricing?) Looks like he just wants to pad his resume with celebrity interviews and again waste time to make the $1100 plus plus

    — critics say he’s hardly got not experience as a monitor but got the job because he’s a friend of the Judge.

    etc.
    Crazy

    (like I said before Google which makes less money than Apple spends 9 times more on political lobbying. Walmart way smaller in profits spends 4 times as much. Walmart used to get a lot of crap for ‘unfair business’ ‘labour’ ‘manufacturing in Asia’ etc issues with govt until a consultant got them to seriously up their lobbying budget and hire ex-politicians. For it’s size and as percentage of income Apple spends tiny amounts on lobbying (and no money on direct political donations) . Think this has an effect on the political shat Apple’s been having? Don’t play by their dirt rules and they will hurt you. *sigh* )

  7. Are we sure that Bromwich is not a mole for Amazon or Google? Or what about gaining insider information and using it to make a fortune.

    Oh and by the way, I support the proposed 28th amendment. I also think that every member of congress should report each of their major contributors and the amount.

    This country is in such a mess.

  8. The easy fix is for Apple to quit selling books. No Court appointed Monitor required. Nothing to fix. Terrible Monopoly problem solved. Market fixed as the judge wanted from the beginning.

  9. Mmmm the koh Cote is up for more. I betcha that puppet moving hand is wedged pretty far up there to make her do this song and dance.

    Keep going koh Cote, let’s see you rag on.

  10. 1. Amazon helps Obama campaign with internet resources.
    2. Apple enters eBook market.
    3. Amazon complains to Obama, calls in favor.
    4. Obama leans on Holder (DOJ).
    5. Holder leans on Cote.

    It’s really that simple and transparent.

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