Justice Department Presents Opening Arguments Against Apple in E-Book Price Fixing Trial

ibooks iconIn a Manhattan courtroom this morning, the U.S. Department of Justice presented its opening arguments in USA v Apple Inc, the antitrust e-book price fixing trial. The DoJ filed suit last April and Apple has consistently defended itself and has said the accusations are "simply not true".

According to AllThingsD, Justice Department attorney Lawrence Buterman presented the government's case this morning, using a slideshow filled with email and phone record evidence that the government says shows Apple colluded with book publishers to drive up the cost of e-books ahead of the launch of the iBookstore.



For its part, Apple's lead attorney claims the company was using the same strategies that worked when the company was building the iTunes Music Store to get contracts with the major book publishers. From Apple 2.0:

Apple's opening statement […] tried to pull the rug out from under everything the DOJ had just presented. [Apple SVP Eddy] Cue, Snyder claims, was just trying to break into a crowded e-book market (one dominated by Amazon) using precisely the same approach he used when he got the company into the music market with iTunes and the applications market with the App Store. Those innovation poured billions of dollars into the U.S. economy, he said. "Apple should be applauded, not condemned."

Eddy Cue -- Apple's senior vice president for Internet Software and Services, and one of its chief negotiators -- sits squarely at the middle of the DoJ's case and was responsible for much of the email and phone traffic mentioned in the government's opening argument. He is expected to take the stand on June 13th.

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

Popular Stories

iOS 26

iOS 26.2 Coming Soon With These 8 New Features on Your iPhone

Thursday December 11, 2025 8:49 am PST by
Apple seeded the second iOS 26.2 Release Candidate to developers earlier this week, meaning the update will be released to the general public very soon. Apple confirmed iOS 26.2 would be released in December, but it did not provide a specific date. We expect the update to be released by early next week. iOS 26.2 includes a handful of new features and changes on the iPhone, such as a new...
AirPods Pro Firmware Feature

Apple Releases New Firmware for AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods Pro 3

Thursday December 11, 2025 11:28 am PST by
Apple today released new firmware designed for the AirPods Pro 3 and the prior-generation AirPods Pro 2. The AirPods Pro 3 firmware is 8B30, up from 8B25, while the AirPods Pro 2 firmware is 8B28, up from 8B21. There's no word on what's include in the updated firmware, but the AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods Pro 3 are getting expanded support for Live Translation in the European Union in iOS...
iOS 26

iOS 26.4 and iOS 27 Features Revealed in New Leak

Friday December 12, 2025 10:56 am PST by
Macworld's Filipe Espósito today revealed a handful of features that Apple is allegedly planning for iOS 26.4, iOS 27, and even iOS 28. The report said the features are referenced within the code for a leaked internal build of iOS 26 that is not meant to be seen by the public. However, it appears that Espósito and/or his sources managed to gain access to it, providing us with a sneak peek...
Google maps feaure

Google Maps Quietly Added This Long-Overdue Feature for Drivers

Wednesday December 10, 2025 2:52 am PST by
Google Maps on iOS quietly gained a new feature recently that automatically recognizes where you've parked your vehicle and saves the location for you. Announced on LinkedIn by Rio Akasaka, Google Maps' senior product manager, the new feature auto-detects your parked location even if you don't use the parking pin function, saves it for up to 48 hours, and then automatically removes it once...
iOS 26

Apple Releases iOS 26.2 With Alarms for Reminders, Lock Screen Changes, Enhanced Safety Alerts and More

Friday December 12, 2025 10:10 am PST by
Apple today released iOS 26.2, the second major update to the iOS 26 operating system that came out in September, iOS 26.2 comes a little over a month after iOS 26.1 launched. ‌iOS 26‌.2 is compatible with the ‌iPhone‌ 11 series and later, as well as the second-generation ‌iPhone‌ SE. The new software can be downloaded on eligible iPhones over-the-air by going to Settings >...
Foldable iPhone 2023 Feature 1

Apple to Make More Foldable iPhones Than Expected [Updated]

Tuesday December 9, 2025 9:59 am PST by
Apple has ordered 22 million OLED panels from Samsung Display for the first foldable iPhone, signaling a significantly larger production target than the display industry had previously anticipated, ET News reports. In the now-seemingly deleted report, ET News claimed that Samsung plans to mass-produce 11 million inward-folding OLED displays for Apple next year, as well as 11 million...
AirTag 2 Mock Feature

Apple AirTag 2: Four New Features Found in iOS 26 Code

Thursday December 11, 2025 10:31 am PST by
The AirTag 2 will include a handful of new features that will improve tracking capabilities, according to a new report from Macworld. The site says that it was able to access an internal build of iOS 26, which includes references to multiple unreleased products. Here's what's supposedly coming: An improved pairing process, though no details were provided. AirTag pairing is already...
iOS 26

15 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 26.2

Friday December 5, 2025 9:40 am PST by
Apple is about to release iOS 26.2, the second major point update for iPhones since iOS 26 was rolled out in September, and there are at least 15 notable changes and improvements worth checking out. We've rounded them up below. Apple is expected to roll out iOS 26.2 to compatible devices sometime between December 8 and December 16. When the update drops, you can check Apple's servers for the ...
macOS Tahoe 26 Thumb

Apple Releases macOS Tahoe 26.2 With Edge Light

Friday December 12, 2025 10:08 am PST by
Apple today released macOS Tahoe 26.2, the second major update to the macOS Tahoe operating system that came out in September. macOS Tahoe 26.2 comes five weeks after Apple released macOS Tahoe 26.1. Mac users can download the macOS Tahoe update by using the Software Update section of System Settings. macOS Tahoe 26.2 includes Edge Light, a feature that illuminates your face with soft...

Top Rated Comments

MattJessop Avatar
164 months ago
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Shadowpig Avatar
164 months ago
We should know now that price fixing is only ok when Amazon is doing it in order to run competitors out of business.

Except that isn't what Amazon is doing. Amazon is selling at low/no/negative profit margins, they're hoping to make it up in volume. That isn't price fixing, the publishers still get the wholesale price of their books, Amazon sets the retail price, which is many cases is below what they bought them for from the publishers.

Now I'm not saying that what Amazon is doing is great for competitors, but it isn't illegal unlike what the publishers and Apple are accused of doing.

Amazon could be accused of abuse of monopoly power in the market hurting their competitors, but that isn't what this case is about.

For this case and this case only Amazon didn't do anything *legally* wrong, Apple probably did.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jaymzuk Avatar
164 months ago
This lawsuit is ridiculous. Must be funded by Amazon.

This is all very simple. Book publishers are upset with Amazon because they can't set the prices of their books (they want MORE money not less). They sign with Apple so they can set their own prices. Surprise, surprise, books are higher priced because Book publishers are allowed to set the prices to prices THEY want (higher).

Amazon should be the one sued, not Apple.

I like how you call the lawsuit ridiculous, then make a wildly unfounded assertion as to how the suit has been funded.

The free market should dictate prices. Prices shouldn't be artificially inflated simply because the laws of supply and demand are no longer working in your favour.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
silvetti Avatar
164 months ago
Except that isn't what Amazon is doing. Amazon is selling at low/no/negative profit margins, they're hoping to make it up in volume. That isn't price fixing, the publishers still get the wholesale price of their books, Amazon sets the retail price, which is many cases is below what they bought them for from the publishers.

Now I'm not saying that what Amazon is doing is great for competitors, but it isn't illegal unlike what the publishers and Apple are accused of doing.

Amazon could be accused of abuse of monopoly power in the market hurting their competitors, but that isn't what this case is about.

For this case and this case only Amazon didn't do anything *legally* wrong, Apple probably did.

Amazon loses money on ebooks... This is why big corporations win, they can play chicken longer...

Amazon buys books at 10 dollars sells a 9,99 (they lose 1 cent), how can they make ANY profit from volume sales ?
They don't and since not that many companies can keep up with losing money (don't forget the cost of running the business itself, not just the buying/selling the merchandise) they just end up running the competition to the ground...

Go ask your tiny bookshops around the corner.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
bbeagle Avatar
164 months ago
This lawsuit is ridiculous. Must be funded by Amazon.

This is all very simple. Book publishers are upset with Amazon because they can't set the prices of their books (they want MORE money not less). They sign with Apple so they can set their own prices. Surprise, surprise, books are higher priced because Book publishers are allowed to set the prices to prices THEY want (higher).

Amazon should be the one sued, not Apple.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
AppleMark Avatar
164 months ago
Whatever happened to free choice?

Consumers who don't like Apple pricing, can go to Amazon. Its that simple!
If you knew anything about this issue you would not be asking such a question. :rolleyes:

It has nothing to do with what Apple and Amazon charge for ebook, in simple terms. It is about why Apple and Amazon [have to] now charge extra for ebooks. It is regarding the [forced] change in business model with publishers supposedly changed by Apple under Steve Job's.

It's not that simple, Steve said so therefore it must be true.... Right?
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)