Apple Inc Chief Executive Tim
Cook must sit for a deposition in the U.S. government's lawsuit against the
company over alleged price-fixing in the e-book market, a judge ruled on
Wednesday.
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 that 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.
Apple had fought the request, saying Cook's
testimony would be "cumulative and duplicative" since the government
had already deposed 11 other executives at the iPad
maker.
Cote, on a teleconference, cited the death of
Jobs as a key reason in ordering the deposition.
"Because of that loss, I think the
government is entitled to take testimony from high-level executives within
Apple about topics relevant to the government case," as well as to counter
Apple's defense arguments, she said.
A spokesman for Apple did not immediately
respond to a request for comment.
Apple is the only remaining defendant in the
lawsuit, which was filed in April 2012 in U.S. District Court in New York.
The five publishers - Pearson Plc's Penguin
Group, News Corp's HarperCollins Publishers Inc, CBS Corp's Simon &
Schuster Inc, Hachette Book Group Inc and MacMillan - have already settled. The
last to settle was Macmillan in February.
A trial is set for June. The government is
not requesting damages but is seeking a finding that Apple violated antitrust
law. It is also seeking an order blocking Apple from engaging in similar
conduct.
TELECONFERENCE ARGUMENTS
During the teleconference, Orin Snyder, a
lawyer for Apple at the law firm Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, called the
government's request to depose Cook a "fishing expedition."
Snyder said the testimony of other executives
should be sufficient in the case. Depositions of 11 other Apple executives have
already taken place or been scheduled, according to an earlier letter Apple
sent the judge.
"This effort to depose Mr. Cook, Apple's
CEO, reflects the fact the government cannot meet its burden of proof in this
case," Snyder said.
Lawrence Buterman, a Justice Department
lawyer, said on the call that Cook had submitted a written declaration in the
case in which he said he played no "meaningful role" in the events at
issue.
The Justice Department wants to know what
Cook "means by his qualifier," Buterman said.
The government believes it is likely, because
of Cook's "position and closeness" with Jobs, that they had private
conversations about e-books, Buterman said.
"It means Mr. Cook is the only potential
source of information," he said.
The case is United States v. Apple Inc et al,
U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 12-02826.
(Reporting by Nate Raymond in New York; Editing by Martha
Graybow, Nick Zieminski and John Wallace) [Source]
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