Apple lawyer calls e-book price-fix case bizarre

6/3/2013

NEW YORK  — An Apple Inc. lawyer has come out swinging at the start of a New York trial and is rebutting the government’s claims that the company unfairly drove up the price of electronic books in 2010.

Apple attorney Orin Snyder calls the Justice Department case bizarre and says the company did not conspire with publishers to boost e-book prices. He says the e-book market was broken and lacked innovation and competition before Apple entered.

A Justice Department lawyer claimed today that Apple and five book publishers deliberately tried to eliminate Amazon.com’s $9.99 bargain price for the most popular e-books.

He asked a judge to find Apple had violated U.S. anti-trust laws. The five publishers have already settled in the case.

The trial is expected to last several weeks.