Caltech, NYU economists file pro-Apple brief in e-book antitrust case, say Denise Cote doesn’t understand markets or antitrust law

“The pro-Apple amici curiae brief filed Wednesday by two economists lays out clearly — more clearly perhaps than Apple’s own trial lawyers — the economic and legal issues the company tried and failed to get across to Judge Denise Cote last June,” Philip Elmer-DeWitt reports for Fortune.

“The document submitted by CalTech’s Bradford Cornell and NYU’s Janusz Ordover fills more than 30 pages,” P.E.D. reports, “but the heart of their argument is laid out in a three-paragraph summary.”

A few snippets:

The District Court [Judge Denise Cote]’s failure to consider the economics… The District Court [Judge Denise Cote] never considered evidence and economic reasoning… The District Court [Judge Denise Cote] disregarded economic evidence and reasoning… The District Court [Judge Denise Cote] also ignored economic evidence and reasoning… The District Court [Judge Denise Cote] also erred… These errors [by Judge Denise Cote] threaten to chill competition… Our antitrust laws should encourage, not penalize, vertical contracting arrangements that facilitate entry and enhance competition.

Read more in the full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: This entire fiasco could have been avoided if a vacant-eyed puppet hadn’t been appointed to a job that she clearly cannot handle.

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.

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

Apple urges U.S. appeals court to void ‘radical’ e-books ruling – February 26, 2014
Apple’s e-book appeal to higher court: Toss out the verdict, or give us a real judge – February 26, 2014
U.S. Federal Puppet Denise Cote: ‘Apple’s reaction to the existence of a monitorship underscores the wisdom of its imposition’ – January 16, 2014
Judge Denise Cote denies Apple request block her friend as ‘antitrust compliance monitor’ – January 13, 2014
Antitrust monitor Bromwich rebuts Apple accusations of ‘unconstitutional’ investigation – December 31, 2013
Apple seeks to freeze its U.S. e-books ‘antitrust monitor’ – December 15, 2013
The persecution of Apple: Is the U.S. government’s ebook investigation out of control? – December 10, 2013