.....Of particular interest is a letter from DOJ attorney Lawrence Buterman arguing that an
objection to the proposed penalties by the publishers that were part of the case is direct evidence of why the penalties are needed to protect consumers.....
Update:
Associated Press reports that Judge Denise Cote has denied Apple's request for a stay of the case pending appeal.
Article Link:
DOJ Says Publishers Are Again Colluding in Objecting to Proposed Apple Penalty in E-Book Case
Sounds to me like the DOJ is worried that shifting public opinion, may undermine their chances of 'punishing' APPLE for not 'rolling over and playing dead'. This looks like the clearest evidence yet, the DOJ has it in for APPLE.
Not to mention, the conduct of judge Cote throughout this, has left me wondering if she is as objective and unbiased in this case, as she should be.
The DOJ is having a temper tantrum. This is what judges are for, if they have any authority remaining whatsoever. The constitution and judiciary is supposed to protect us against an overzealous government. This government is clearly overzealous.
We haven't seen zeal like this since McCarthyism in the 50's.
So the publishers collude, with or without Apple and yet Apple is the one who has to be punished. What a joke.
Wow, the DOJ is looking more and more pathetic. I'm glad that the DOJ is showing its true colors in this new accusation: paranoid and incompetent.
"Banded together"? Banded together?! Really?!
So any time more than one entity shares an opinion it's a conspiracy? Good lord.
They're looking more and more like bullies, who want to curb free speech by a group of people, opposing the DOJ's witch-hunt.
Don't you just LOVE the progressive perversion of the commerce clause being used as a tool to tell business what they can and cannot do? You make it impossible for a corporation to conduct business in the United States and then bitch and moan when they offshore jobs and keep profits overseas. Why would a corporation reward a population and the government it elects when that population/government does everything within its legal (and made up) power to prevent that corporation from doing business? Fight the good fight Apple.....
Well put! I'm not saying, that some limits aren't needed, but looking at all angles of this case, there's clearly something fundamentally wrong here.
The publishers didn't fight the case and have already paid the damages awarded against them. Only Apple chose to fight the case.
Then, why is their speaking out now, an argument for fines against APPLE?
How about DOJ investigate
- Amazon's predatory monopoly
- high health care price in the US
- Google / Samsung using SEPs as weapons
Good one!
It's been said that APPLE's lack of political contributions, may have something to do with this whole seemingly one-sided attack on free enterprise, and I can't help but wonder if there's merit in that idea. On the one hand, we have a huge company dumping books, in some instances below cost, and thereby all but eliminating small independent bookstores, while putting (by their sheer size) the squeeze on authors and publishers, all the while receiving tacit approval for these practices from our government, while on the other hand we have APPLE and the five big publishers saying, this is an unsustainable model for the long term, and we need to increase the prices somewhat, so the industry as a whole, can thrive into the future.
I'm not saying, APPLE's solutions were totally altruistic, admittedly they wanted their 30% cut, and they were also anxious to break up AMAZON's stranglehold on book sales, but in addition to that, I believe they also wanted a healthier overall marketplace for books, where not only they, but also authors as well as publishers could thrive. AMAZON clearly had no interest in the long term interests of either publishers or authors.
Political contributions of all kind, and especially super Pacs, while being an accepted and arguably necessary part of our political system, are really grease money, and in essence, a form of corruption. Money paid to support candidates/parties/ideologies now, with the expectation of political goodwill, or special considerations later, hopefully.
Good on APPLE, that they have largely resisted such 'corruption' until now, however it looks like they are now being punished for not playing 'nice' with the big boys.