Litigation in the USA v. Apple Inc. trial concluded Thursday, with closing arguments from Apple and the Department of Justice. Orin Snyder, lead counsel for Apple, closed out the trial with a Keynote presentation, a tool Apple’s lawyers have been using throughout the proceedings.
At one point, the PowerPoint presentation the Government’s lawyers were using failed to play audio, with the Judge noting that they weren’t using a Mac.
“Apple did not conspire with a single publisher to fix prices in the e-book industry,” Snyder argued, saying the negotiations were nothing more than “standard, lawful business activity.” He continued, saying “All of the government’s evidence is ambiguous at best,” he framed the DoJ’s case as one built on “word games and inferences.”
As he closed, the final slide in Snyder’s slide show displayed an iPad, with the text “It’s time to close the book on this case”.
The government argued during the trial that Apple convinced publishers to conspire to set pricing above the $9.99 price point that Amazon was selling books at before the release of the iPad, saying that Apple was the “ringmaster” of the scheme. The DoJ’s slide deck is available for viewing at AllThingsD.
Both sides had agreed to forego a jury trial, and have a judge hear and decide on the case. U.S. District Judge Denise Cote is expected to hand down a final judgement within the next few weeks.