The digital age has caused the popularity of newspapers, magazines and books to decline across the globe. As more digital consumption devices like tablets hit the market the pressure on physical reading material has increased and helped boost the sales of digital content. E-Books have benefited immensely from this shift in consumer preferences and is fast becoming an important revenue source for content providers. As more and more company’s jump into the e-book market the competition is becoming intense and so is the scrutiny of the sector. One prominent event came in April of 2012 when the United States Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against five book publishers and technology giant Apple. The court case claimed that the six company’s had colluded to increase the prices of e-books. It has now been reported by Bloomberg that Apple‘s CEO, Tim Cook, may end up testifying the DoJ suit.
The Justice Department sent a letter last week in which Bloomberg claims the government body as the U.S. District Judge Denise Cote to settle a “discovery dispute” that relates to the well known CEO’s testimony taken out of court. The judge has arranged a conference call between the parties for March 13 to deal with the matter.
The lawsuit has gotten this far because out of all the accused in the case, Apple is the only one left that has not cut a deal with the Department of Justice. The other five publishers include News Corp.’s HarperCollins Publishers, Lagardere SCA’s Hachette Book Group, Simon & Schuster, Macmillan Publishers, and Pearson PLC’s Penguin Group. Apple has vowed to fight the case in court even after the co-accused agreed to settle.
Just one week ago all the parties involved came to an agreement that the late Steve Jobs’ interview for a biography with Walter Isaacson could not be used in court. The dispute now seems to be centered around the deposition of Cook that took place during the discovery phase of the case.
Apple has claimed that it has not colluded with any company to increase the prices of e-books. Many observers believe that the deal between Apple and the other five publishers was meant to disrupt the dominance of Amazon in the e-book sector. Apple’s iPad and iPhone have become a major way of consumption for e-book readers but the cut throat competition has made it quite difficult for publishers to make profits from the digital sales of their products.
Source: CNET
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