Apple Wants Trial to Defend Itself in E-Book Lawsuit

Apple says it wants to go to trial to defend itself against the Department of Justice's antitrust lawsuit that alleges the company colluded with publishers to fix the price of e-Books, reports Reuters.

Two publishers took a similar stance in the first hearing in Manhattan federal court since the anti-trust division of the Department of Justice last week accused Apple and five publishers of colluding to break up Amazon.com's low-cost dominance of the digital book market. The publishers are Macmillan, a unit of Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck GmbH, and Pearson Plc's Penguin Group.

"Our basic view is that we would like the case to be decided on the merits," Apple lawyer, Daniel Floyd, told U.S. District Judge Denise Cote. "We believe that this is not an appropriate case against us and we would like to validate that."


The other three publishers named in the antitrust suit have reportedly agreed to a settlement with the Justice Department. That settlement would see the publishers go back to the wholesale model where retailers like Amazon could set the price of e-Books as they see fit.

The next hearing in the case is scheduled for June 22nd.

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