Business 2 CommunitySteve Jobs To Take Stand In Apple Antitrust Lawsuit
Apple co-founder and former CEO Steve Jobs may have passed away, but that won’t stop him from taking the stand in Apple’s antitrust lawsuit regarding its iPod devices and control over the MP3 industry. The deceased tech leader will be featured as the lawsuit’s star witness. Before his death Jobs was deposed and his testimony was filmed.
Apple has been engaged in the antitrust lawsuit for nearly 10 years. The lawsuit claims that Jobs and his team shut out smaller MP3 producers from the audio market. When Apple issued an iPod upgrade in 2006, the company would no longer allow other competitors song files to play on their portable device, essentially forcing Apple users to purchase songs from Apple’s iTunes market.
The lawsuit claims that by shutting out many of its competitors, Apple was able to set higher prices for downloads, while locking out other music providers.
The lawsuit calls for $350 million in damages. If found guilty of antitrust, Apple could face fines of more than $1 billion.
Apple has adamantly denied that its iPod update was aimed at hurting competitors. The company says it simply made improvements that helped improve its own product lines.
In an odd turn of events, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers is not permitting the defendants (or plaintiffs) to tell the jury that Jobs died of cancer. Both sides are also being asked not to refer to Jobs as a “visionary.”
“Apple must prove its product improvements on a technical level which might be hard for jurors to understand. In the meantime, the Plaintiffs only need to show that changes to the iPod product locked out competitors and gave Apple an unfair advantage over its competitors.
While Steve Jobs’ earlier taped testimony will be featured in the court case, other Apple executives will also take the stand, including senior vice president of worldwide marketing Phil Schiller and senior vice president of Internet software and services, Eddy Cue.
Apple could easily pay the $1 billion fine with the $155 billion in on-hand cash the company currently has at its disposal. Apple recently became the first company in the world to feature a $700 billion valuation.
Opening statements in the Apple antitrust lawsuit are scheduled to start on Tuesday.
[Photo Credit: Matthew Yohe]
This article was syndicated from Business 2 Community: Steve Jobs To Take Stand In Apple Antitrust Lawsuit
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