Media just want to show 'a dead man' in Steve Jobs deposition video, Apple lawyers say
Apple has officially responded to the request of several media organizations to make Steve Jobs’ iPod antitrust lawsuit deposition video publicly available.
Earlier today, it was reported that the Associated Press, Bloomberg, and CNN had filed a motion to have the video released to the public. Thomas Burke, who is representing all three media organizations, first reached out to Apple regarding the request, but Bill Isaacson, the company’s lead attorney, replied with a denial of consent and a promise of a “substantive” response.
Now, Apple has made good on that promise.
As reported by The Verge, during a federal court hearing earlier tonight, another Apple lawyer, Jonathan Sherman, effectively accused the media organizations of being opportunistic in their desire to show “a dead man”:
“The marginal value of seeing him again, in his black turtleneck — this time very sick — is small,” Sherman said, contrasting that with high-profile appearances like Apple product releases, and when Jobs stumped for a new campus at a city council meeting in Cupertino. “What they they want is a dead man, and they want to show him to the rest of the world, because it’s a judicial record.”
Burke, however, argued that the testimony is “invaluable” since “”Steve Jobs is not your typical trial witness.”
For her part, U.S. District Court Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers has asked that the video be treated as “regular testimony,” meaning it’s restricted to the courtroom and may be seen and reported on only by people in attendance at the trial.
In any case, the testimony has been entered into the public record via a transcript of the video (embedded below), a substantial portion of which was played in court last week.
If you can’t see the document embedded above, please click here.
In the video, Jobs said that the digital rights management protocols that Apple is being accused by the lawsuit’s plaintiffs of having used to lock in users to its iTunes ecosystem and cripple competition were implemented as part of the company’s copyright contracts with music labels.
The $350 million class action lawsuit, which was filed in 2012 but only went to trial last week, involves a class of customers who purchased early models of Apple’s iPod music player between September 2006 and March 2009.
Apple filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit following the disqualification and withdrawal last week of the case’s plaintiffs, who apparently purchased their iPods outside the period in question.
The company’s appeal, however, has been denied. And now, as reported by The Wall Street Journal, the lawsuit is set to continue with the introduction of a new plaintiff in the person of Barbara Bennett, a 65-year old amateur ice dancer from Boston who bought an iPod nano, which she used while skating, in late 2006.
See also: Aaron Sorkin wanted Tom Cruise as Steve Jobs, Jeff Daniels could be John Sculley, Apple says iOS 8 is now powering 63 percent of active iOS devices, and Apple finally switches over to Apple Maps for the Find My iPhone iCloud.com interface.
