Apple CEO Tim Cook may testify in U.S. e-book case
Cook may have to testify in the case accusing Apple of conspiring with other publishers to hike e-book prices, Bloomberg reports.
Apple CEO Tim Cook may testify in the U.S. Department of Justice's antitrust case against the company over e-book prices, Bloomberg reported today.
In the lawsuit, filed in April, federal prosecutors accused Apple and five book publishers of working together to artificially hike e-book prices.
In a letter earlier this week, the Justice Department asked U.S. District Judge Denise Cote to help settle a "discovery dispute" over Cook's deposition, or testimony taken outside of court, according to Bloomberg. Cote scheduled a March 13 conference call in response.
Apple remains the sole defendant in the case, which was filed against Apple, News Corp.'s HarperCollins Publishers, Lagardere SCA's Hachette Book Group, Simon & Schuster (owned by CBS, the parent company of CNET), Macmillan Publishers (owned by Germany's Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck holding company), and Pearson PLC's Penguin Group.
The other publishers have all agreed to settle, but Apple has remained in the fight.
Earlier this week, the parties agreed biographer Walter Isaacson's interviews with Apple co-founder Steve Jobs would not be used as evidence in the case.