Steve Jobs Ordered to Answer Questions in Antitrust Suit

Apple CEO Steve Jobs has been ordered by a federal magistrate judge to answer questions in an antitrust suit which alleges that Apple operated a music downloading monopoly, according to Bloomberg.

Lawyers for consumers who filed the 2005 complaint won permission to conduct limited questioning of Jobs, under an order issued yesterday by U.S. Magistrate Judge Howard R. Lloyd in San Jose, California. The deposition can’t exceed two hours and the only topic allowed is changes Apple made to its software in October 2004 that rendered digital music files engineered by RealNetworks Inc. (RNWK) inoperable with Apple’s iPod music player.

"The court finds that Jobs has unique, non-repetitive, firsthand knowledge about the issues at the center of the dispute over RealNetworks software," Lloyd wrote.


iTunes customer Thomas Slattery is seeking class-action status for his suit that alleges Apple encoded its music with FairPlay to prevent music downloaded from iTunes to be played on any device but the iPod and to prevent any music downloaded from another service from being played on the iPod.

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