US: Apple, DOJ fire shots ahead of eBook appeal

Apple and the US Department of Justice sparred over the Thanksgiving holiday week, say reports, as Apple prepares for a hearing in its appeal of a decision that found the company guilty of conspiring to fix eBook prices.

Reports say Apple attorneys filed a letter just before Thanksgiving outlining an argument as to why, it claims, US District Judge Denise Cote was wrong to have ruled in favor of the DOJ and improperly weighed evidence presented against Apple. The letter, say reports, argues that Hyland v. HomeServices of America “directly supports Apple’s arguments for reversal” because “all of the evidence supposedly supporting a conspiracy involving Apple is circumstantial and ambiguous.”

The DOJ, in turn, quickly filed its own letter in response to Apple’s. “Apple does not explain how a conclusion about the Hyland evidence sheds light on what inferences are proper from the evidence in [its] case, in which the district court found compelling direct and circumstantial evidence of Apple’s participation in the alleged conspiracy,” the filing wrote.

The appeal is set to begin December 15 and will center on Judge Cote’s method for reaching her decision.

Judge Cote approved of Apple’s settlement last month in a class action case filed by various states following the DOJ’s suit, but that $450 million settlement could be greatly reduced depending on the outcome of Apple’s appeal.

Full content: Publishers Weekly

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