Judge Denise Cote

In a new twist in the long running antitrust case against Apple, an appeals court on Monday cast doubt on the Justice Department's theory that the company brokered an illegal conspiracy among book publishers, and asked instead why the government's focus has not been on Amazon.

The 90-minute hearing, which took place at the Second Circuit Court in Manhattan, represented a major shift in momentum in a case that has until now gone completely against Apple. On Monday, the three appeals court judges suggested that District Judge Denise Cote might have been too quick to conclude

A U.S. federal judge denied a bid by Apple Inc on Wednesday to hold off a trial in a case brought by state attorneys general accusing the company of conspiring with five major publishers to fix e-book prices.

U.S. District Judge Denise Cote in a brief order said the July 14 trial had already been postponed once and should go forward, paving the way for more than two dozen states to pursue hundreds of millions of dollars in damages.

Apple lost an attempt on Tuesday to get a judge to dismiss antitrust lawsuits filed by state attorneys general that accuse the tech giant of conspiring with book publishers to fix e-book prices.

US District Judge Denise Cote rejected Apple's contention that the motion should be rejected because the states lacked standing in the matter. In her 24-page opinion, Cote said that Apple presented an argument that seemed to contradict itself.

Judge Denise Cote has appointed an "External Compliance Monitor" to oversee and review Apple's internal antitrust compliance policies as stipulated in the injunction won by the U.S. Department of Justice earlier this year. As reported by CNET, Judge Cote appointed former Assistant U.S. Attorney and Justice Department Inspector General Michael Bromwich, one of the two candidates proposed by the government. Bromwich has previous experience as a monitor for both a police department and the oil industry, noted CNET. According to the injunction, Apple is to be monitored for a period of at least two years. 

Well, that was sudden. Just a couple of weeks into the expected couple of months a ruling might take, Judge Denise Cote has issued a 160-page ruling (PDF) finding Apple guilty of violating anti-trust laws in colluding with publishers to raise e-book prices. A sentencing hearing will be held later. I haven’t had time to [...]

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Apple had a field day with Google in court here on Thursday.

Apple started to pick away at the Department of Justice's claim that the tech giant conspired to inflate e-book prices by repeatedly and rapidly firing questions at a key Google witness.

The tactic paid off for lead Apple attorney Orin Snyder, who began to wear down on Thomas Turvey, director of strategic relationships for Google. Turvey appeared increasingly frazzled and frustrated as the afternoon went on.