NEW YORK, June 22 (Reuters) - A federal judge on Friday set
a 2013 trial date for a lawsuit from the U.S. government
accusing Apple and book publishers of conspiring to fix the
prices of electronic books.
Following a hearing in Manhattan federal court, U.S.
District Judge Denise Cote said a bench trial in the case will
begin June 3, 2013, for Apple and two publishers who are
fighting the antitrust charges.
The U.S. Justice Department sued Apple in April, saying it
colluding with five publishers to boost e-book prices in early
2010, as the Silicon Valley giant was launching its popular iPad
tablet.
Amazon Inc, which makes the Kindle e-reader, had long sold
e-books for as little as $9.99. The government complaint quoted
Apple's late co-founder Steve Jobs as wanting to offer
publishers a means to boost prices, and "create a real
mainstream e-books market at $12.99 and $14.99."
Apple argues it has not conspired with anyone or fixed
prices for e-books in an effort to thwart Amazon's dominance of
that fast-growing market.
Apple says that its foray into e-books has actually fueled
demand for e-books by forcing Amazon and rivals, including
Barnes & Noble Inc, to compete more aggressively, including by
upgrading e-reader technology.
The publishers Macmillan and Penguin Group, which are
respectively units of Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck GmbH
and Pearson Plc, are fighting the antitrust case.
News Corp's HarperCollins Publishers, CBS Corp's Simon &
Schuster and Lagardere SCA's Hachette Book Group settled the
case with the U.S. Justice Department.
The three publishers are also on track to submit a
settlement proposal to the judge by the end of the summer to
resolve claims by a group of U.S. states, lawyers for the book
companies and the states said on Friday.
"I am confident that we'll get all 50 states and six
territories and common wealths to sign on" to the settlement,
said Gary Becker, a Connecticut assistant Attorney General.
The case is In Re: Electronic Books Antitrust Litigation,
U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 11-2293.
For the Department of Justice: Mark Ryan, U.S. Department of
Justice Antitrust Division.
For Apple: Daniel Floyd of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.
For the States: Gary Becker, Assistant Attorney General of
Connecticut.
For the settling publishers: Shepard Goldfein of Skadden,
Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.
For Penguin: Daniel McInnis of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer &
Feld.
For Macmillan: Joel Mitnick of Sidley Austin.
(Reporting by Basil Katz; Additional reporting by Jessica Dye)
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