U.S. government complains, claims Apple trying to rush e-books antitrust case

“The U.S. government says Apple Inc. wants to rush its New York antitrust lawsuit over the price of electronic books by finishing evidence gathering by year’s end, and the electronics king acknowledges it has a ‘special urgency’ in ending the case,” Larry Neumeister reports for The Associated Press.

“The government said in a letter filed in federal court in Manhattan on Thursday that it wants until March to finish gathering facts in a lawsuit it brought this year,” Neumeister reports. “Government lawyers… said they were trying to reveal ‘a long-running, detailed conspiracy that affected millions of U.S. consumers and likely involved multiple executives at each co-conspirator. Some of the acts in furtherance of the conspiracy occurred in Europe, where the defendants also pursued a similar course of conduct aimed at European consumers.'”

Neumeister reports, “In its own letter, Apple said its approach reflects a “special urgency” in resolving the case because of public interests at stake and to vindicate its conduct. It repeated its ‘unequivocal position: it believes it has done nothing wrong and seeks a speedy resolution of the Department of Justice’s lawsuit on the merits. It is also a reality that the mere existence of litigation of this type creates marketplace uncertainties, which impact competitive conditions and the public interest.'”

Read more in the full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: As we’ve said from the very beginning of this fiasco: “The U.S. DOJ is plainly inept.”

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