Legal

Apple and DOJ's e-books court battle kicks off

NEW YORK -- Apple and the U.S. Department of Justice finally headed to court on Monday for a high-profile trial over e-book price fixing, and one side already has expressed worries about an unfair disadvantage.

The Justice Department is trying to prove to the court that Apple was the ringleader in a scheme to push book publishers toward raising their prices, and change the pricing model to better compete with Amazon. Apple's fought back, arguing that the U.S. government took the various e-mails between Apple executives and publishers out of context, and that its entry into the … Read more

Here's the Justice Department's case against Apple

The Department of Justice has just released the 81-slide deck of its opening statements against Apple, as the two sides begin their first day in court.

The trial, which is expected to run about three weeks, kicked off Monday with opening statements from both sides. The DOJ says Apple colluded with publishers ahead of the 2010 launch of the iPad and iBookstore to raise prices on e-books. Apple is the staunch holdout among the others that the DOJ originally named in its complaint, but that have since settled.

Included in the slide deck are numerous e-mails between executives, pullouts from … Read more

Apple and the DOJ face off over e-book prices (FAQ)

Apple and the U.S. Department of Justice head to a Manhattan court Monday to begin a trial over whether the Cupertino, Calif., electronics giant colluded with several major publishers to fix pricing on e-books.

Things already have gotten complicated: the DOJ's lawsuit originally targeting Apple and five major e-book publishers. The publishers have since settled, leaving Apple the sole, staunch holdout.

The trial, which is expected to last three weeks, has brought out a trove of evidence consisting of e-mails between executives, including late Apple CEO Steve Jobs. They include details of negotiations and strategizing, and general insights … Read more

Justice Department tries to force Google to hand over user data

A new lawsuit in Manhattan pitting the U.S. Department of Justice against Google offers a rare glimpse of how determined prosecutors are to defend a process that allows federal agents to gain warrantless access to user records, and how committed the Mountain View, Calif., company is to defending its customers' privacy rights against what it views as illegal requests.

The Justice Department's lawsuit, filed April 22 and not disclosed until this article, was sparked by Google's decision to rebuff the FBI's legal demands for confidential user data. It centers on the bureau's controversial use of … Read more

Judge orders Google to comply with FBI's secret NSL demands

A federal judge has ruled that Google must comply with the FBI's warrantless requests for confidential user data, despite the search company's arguments that the secret demands are illegal.

CNET has learned that U.S. District Judge Susan Illston in San Francisco rejected Google's request to modify or throw out 19 so-called National Security Letters, a warrantless electronic data-gathering technique used by the FBI that does not need a judge's approval. Her ruling came after a pair of top FBI officials, including an assistant director, submitted classified affidavits.

The litigation taking place behind closed doors in … Read more

Apple settles iPhone water damage lawsuit for $53M

Apple has agreed to pay $53 million to settle a class-action lawsuit related to warranties covering early versions of the iPhone and iPod Touch.

The lawsuit, originally filed in 2010, claimed Apple had unfairly denied warranty coverage to some customers under an Apple policy associated with devices affected by water damage. The settlement, which still requires the court's approval, will be held in a fund to be distributed among the 153,000 members of the class-action suit, according to documents filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California and reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. … Read more

Apple CEO: We rejected DOJ settlement in e-book suit

As the chief of the last company standing in the upcoming lawsuit over e-book price fixing, Apple CEO Tim Cook said Tuesday that the company never had any plans to settle with the government.

"We're not going to sign something that says we did something that we didn't do, so we're going to fight," Cook said during an interview at the D11 conference on Tuesday.

He noted that Apple rejected a settlement because it was asked to sign a document that said it did something wrong. Cook said he didn't think Apple did anything … Read more

U.S. shuts down alleged online money-laundering outfit

Online currency company Liberty Reserve has been shut down following charges that it laundered more than $6 billion over the past several years and became a "bank of choice for the criminal underworld," The New York Times reported today.

An indictment, filed today by U.S. prosecutors in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, accused Liberty Reserve of establishing its digital currency exchange to launder money, resulting in 55 million laundering transactions for at least a million people.

Furthermore, prosecutors painted Liberty Reserve as a currency marketplace that enabled criminals to commit … Read more

Ireland reportedly considering corporate tax reforms

Ireland is reportedly considering tax reforms that would close a loophole allegedly exploited by several multinational corporations -- most notably Apple -- to reduce their tax bills.

In the face of mounting international criticism, the Irish government is considering ways to phase out the Double Irish taxation arrangement, according to a report this weekend in the financial newspaper Sunday Business Post. The technique dramatically reduces a company's tax debt by funneling profits through two linked Irish subsidiaries.

The report did not indicate what specific changes might be under consideration. CNET has contacted Ireland's Department of Finance for comment … Read more