“In an unusual move before a trial, a federal judge expressed a tentative view that the U.S. Justice Department will be able to show evidence that Apple Inc engaged in a conspiracy with publishers to increase e-book prices,” Nate Raymond reports for Reuters.
“U.S. District Judge Denise Cote, who is set to oversee a trial on June 3, gave her view during a pretrial hearing on Thursday,” Raymond reports. “While she stressed that the view was not final and that she had read only some of the evidence so far, her comments could add to pressure on Apple to settle the lawsuit, in which the Justice Department accuses the company and five publishers of conspiring to fix e-book prices.”
Raymond reports, “‘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, and that the circumstantial evidence in this case, including the terms of the agreements, will confirm that,’ Cote said. Orin Snyder, a lawyer for Apple, said in a statement, ‘We strongly disagree with the court’s preliminary statements about the case today.'”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Prejudice.
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