doj

Notes on Steve Jobs shelved in e-books antitrust case

The notes from biographer Walter Isaacson's numerous interviews with Apple co-founder Steve Jobs will not be used as evidence in the Department of Justice's antitrust case against Apple.

That decision, made last week and reported earlier today by PaidContent, means that Isaacson will not have to testify either.

Isaacson is the author of "Steve Jobs," a book that chronicled the life of Jobs, based on interviews with the then-CEO of Apple, as well as his friends, family, colleagues, and rivals. It was published by Simon & Schuster (owned by CBS, parent company of CNET) weeks after … Read more

Macmillan reaches e-book pricing settlement with DOJ

The U.S. Department of Justice has reached a settlement with Macmillan in an antitrust case related to e-book pricing, leaving only Apple to battle the suit.

In an antitrust lawsuit filed last April, federal prosecutors accused Apple and five book publishers of conspiring to artificially hike prices. The same day, the Justice Department announced it had reached settlements with three publishers but said Apple and the other two publishers had opted to fight the charges. Lagardere SCA's Hachette Book Group, News Corp.'s HarperCollins Publishers, and Simon & Schuster (owned by CBS, which publishes CNET) agreed to settle. … Read more

DOJ: Toss the cartoonist's appeal out of e-book case

Bob Kohn, the founder of eMusic and apparently an amateur cartoonist, has had his laughs but he has no standing in an antitrust case involving five top publishers and Apple, the U.S. Department of Justice argued this week.

Kohn is trying to stop the settlement agreement between the DOJ and three of the five publishers accused earlier this year of conspiring with Apple to raise e-book prices. A U.S. District Court denied Kohn's motion to intervene in the case, and he filed an appeal with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

On Tuesday, … Read more

ACLU sues to get U.S. agencies' license plate tracking records

The American Civil Liberties Union today sued the U.S. government to get access to information about how authorities are using automated license plate readers to track people's movements and location.

The ACLU filed Freedom of Information Act requests on July 30 with the departments of Justice, Homeland Security, and Transportation to try to find out how much officials use the technology and how much it is paying to expand the program. Agencies are required by law to respond to FOIA requests within 20 working days, but more than a month later, only one DOJ office and a few … Read more

DOJ, please don't let up on Apple, book publishers

It's not wrong for retailers to discount books, and losing market share to a competitor is no excuse to fix prices or cheat consumers.

That's the message U.S. District Court Judge Denise Cote sent yesterday to Apple and the country's top book publishers, as well as e-book retailers.

In April, the Department of Justice filed suit and accused five of the country's largest book publishers of conspiring with Apple to raise e-book prices. Soon after, the DOJ reached a settlement agreement with three of the accused publishers. For months, the book industry attacked the settlement, … Read more

Court OKs feds' e-book settlement with publishers

A federal court has approved a settlement agreement reached between the U.S. Department of Justice and three book publishers accused of conspiring with Apple to fix e-book prices.

The DOJ filed suit against Apple and five of the country's largest book publishers in April and accused the group of antitrust violations. Immediately after filing the complaint, the government announced that it had reached a settlement with three of the five accused publishers: Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins Publishers, and Simon & Schuster (owned by CBS, parent company of CNET).

As part of that settlement, the three e-book publishers agreed … Read more

Verizon and cable make concessions to close $3.9B deal

Verizon and a consortium of cable companies have struck a deal with regulators to scale back their joint marketing arrangement to gain approval for their $3.9 billion wireless-spectrum deal, according to sources in a Wall Street Journal report.

Verizon and the cable consortium -- which includes Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Bright House Communications -- have supposedly agreed to terms put forth by the Department of Justice that will limit the joint marketing agreement to five years and will prevent Verizon and cable operators from reselling each other's services in markets where their broadband, television, and phone services … Read more

Steve Jobs biographer fights subpoena in e-books case

A federal district judge has ruled that Steve Jobs biographer doesn't have to comply with a subpoena served on by the U.S. Department of Justice as part of its antitrust suit against Apple and some of the country's largest book publishers.

Publishers Weekly, a trade publication, reported last week that the DOJ in May served a subpoena on Walter Isaacson, a former editor of Time Magazine and the author of the best-selling biography on the late Apple co-founder. The book, which was published by Simon & Schuster (owned by CBS, parent company of CNET), is a vital … Read more

Amazon's the villain, not Apple, book sellers say

Not surprisingly, bookstore owners and authors make up a large number of the people who filed comments with the U.S. Department of Justice regarding the government's antitrust case against Apple and e-book publishers.

The DOJ posted copies of the more than 800 comments on its Web site today. In April, the agency announced that it had filed an antitrust suit against Apple and five of the nation's largest book publishers. The government accuses Apple and of conspiring to raise prices and forcing Amazon and other retailers to follow suit.

The government reached a settlement with three of … Read more