When lawyers for Apple enter the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan next week, they will carry a brief that in its content is as hopeful as a child’s extravagant holiday wish list. Indeed, the attorneys for the computer and smartphone maker would seem to believe in Santa Claus – even if just a little – given the high hopes they have of overturning a 2013 antitrust ruling from Judge Denise Cote.
“Apple’s appeal essentially boils down to this— Judge Denise Cote botched the case,” explains Andrew Albanese, Publishers Weekly senior writer. “The key argument Apple will try to impress on the Second Circuit is that case law limits the inferences a judge can make from evidence submitted in antitrust cases, and that Judge Cote relied on way too many inferences.”
But for Albanese, author of The Battle of $9.99: How Apple, Amazon, and the Big Six Publishers Changed the E-Book Business Overnight, asking for a reversal in judgment is like Ralphie hoping Santa will bring a B-B gun. “It is going to be an uphill battle,” he tells CCC’s Chris Kenneally. “Look at it this way: to win, Apple must lead the Second Circuit to a completely opposite finding than the slam-dunk verdict Judge Cote came to – based on the same evidence, and a single, brief oral argument.”
Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed
Every Friday, CCC’s “Beyond the Book” speaks with the editors and reporters of “Publishers Weekly” for an early look at the news that publishers, editors, authors, agents and librarians will be talking about when they return to work on Monday.