“The judge overseeing Apple’s ebooks price-fixing case has indicated she will not crack down on the company as hard as the US government has requested, but she also said she was disappointed that Apple has not shown remorse,” Greg Sandoval reports for The Verge.
MacDailyNews Take: Remorse is for the guilty. Apple is appealing your baseless decision, Denise.
Sandoval reports, “For that reason, US District Judge Denise Cote suggested that when she makes her final ruling she will require that a third party monitors Apple to ensure that the company doesn’t violate antitrust laws in the future.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: “Blatant ebook price fixing” for which there is no proof of Apple’s involvement. Where’s the smoking gun, Denise?
“But U.S. District Judge Denise Cote in Manhattan suggested a final injunction would be narrower than what the U.S. Department of Justice has been seeking, and would not restrict Apple’s agreements with suppliers of other types of content such as movies, music and TV shows,” Nate Raymond reports for Reuters. “She also said a provision related to Apple’s app store that would allow other e-book retailers to provide a link to their websites or e-bookstores via an e-books app without having to pay Apple for book sales was ‘unnecessary’ … ‘I want this injunction to rest as lightly as possible on how Apple runs its business,’ Cote said at a court hearing.”
“The monitor, she said, would likely be installed to review Apple’s internal antitrust compliance program and procedures and recommend changes, and also required annual antitrust training for employees in Apple’s e-books and content businesses,” Raymond reports. “Apple had vigorously contested hiring of a monitor, saying in court papers it would be ‘extremely costly and burdensome.'”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Note: Apple is appealing this case.
