Apple CEO Tim Cook Ordered to Testify in E-Books Antitrust Lawsuit

ibooks iconA U.S. District Judge has ordered Apple CEO Tim Cook to sit for a deposition in the antitrust lawsuit filed by the Justice Department against the company over alleged e-book price-fixing, reports Reuters.

U.S. District Judge Denise Cote in Manhattan granted the Justice Department's request to compel Cook to testify for four hours in the lawsuit, which accuses Apple of conspiring with five publishers to raise e-book prices.

The government had argued Cook likely had relevant information about Apple's entry into the e-books market. It also said Cook likely had conversations related to e-books with former Apple CEO Steve Jobs, who died in 2011.

The lawsuit was originally filed in April of 2012, and has focused on the so-called 'agency model' for pricing ebooks that Apple attempted to negotiate with a number of publishers.

The Department of Justice has settled with all of the book publishers initially accused, while Apple remains the main target of the suit.

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Top Rated Comments

Rampage Dev Avatar
164 months ago
Good. It will be nice to hear Apples official opinion on the matter.

And perhaps while he is under oath they can as him for the release date for the new Mac Pro.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Chupa Chupa Avatar
164 months ago
That sounds like a good use of the CEO's time.

He needs to be putting the iPhone 6 and iOS7 together, not worrying about some alleged e-book price-fixing.

Wild guess here... the plaintiff couldn't give a rat's A Tim Cook has better things to do. Clearly Judge agrees. Also it's a CEO's job to worry about every aspect of the company; that's the whole point of "chief" preceding "executive" in the title, no?
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Derekuda Avatar
164 months ago
That sounds like a good use of the CEO's time.

He needs to be putting the iPhone 6 and iOS7 together, not worrying about some alleged e-book price-fixing.

Not like he's actually doing anything productive over at Apple... How much has that stock dropped? :D
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Plutonius Avatar
164 months ago
Heck. THE HOBBIT, an old book, is 9.99. You can find paperback versions of this book for a couple dollars.
also: LOTR box set (including box for all 3 books). $18.80 in paperback. Kindle price of 29.99 *BUT WAIT, BUY NOW THIS CAN BE HAD FOR A LOW LOW PRICE OF 24.99!
Hmm, I was thinking of getting the Hobbit for my Kindle so I just checked Amazon when you said it was $24.99. The kindle version is listed for $7.29 (not $24.99) and is cheaper then the paper version.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Hobbit-ebook/dp/B0079KT81G/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1363208709&sr=1-1&keywords=the+hobbit
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Gasu E. Avatar
164 months ago
That sounds like a good use of the CEO's time.

He needs to be putting the iPhone 6 and iOS7 together, not worrying about some alleged e-book price-fixing.

Perhaps you might become just a bit more familiar with the duties of a corporate CEO.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
lunaoso Avatar
164 months ago
I really hope they are all told to lower ebook prices because in most cases the printed book is around 5 dollars cheaper.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)