Despite making “substantial progress” in its antitrust compliance, Apple continued to resist information requests made by the firm’s court-appointed antitrust monitor, the monitor said in a report released this week, as The Hill reported.
As I wrote earlier this week, the parties will meet with Judge Denise Cote on Oct. 15 to discuss whether to extend the two-year term of Michael Bromwich, the antitrust monitor. Bromwich argued that he essentially did little work the first six months of his tenure because of Apple’s resistance. His term is supposed to be up this month.
Cote appointed Bromwich to monitor Apple’s antitrust compliance program in the wake of her ruling that the iPhone maker was guilty of conspiring with publishers to fix the price of e-books. Apple has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Cote’s ruling.
Since he began his work, Apple has resisted Bromwich. That behavior continued, Bromwich said, even when Apple had a good story to tell:
We continued to have requests rejected on a regular basis during this reporting period for no good reason; indeed, it turns out that Apple had a positive story to tell about the attention it paid to antitrust considerations in connection with Apple Music—a positive story that appears to reflect well on its (Executive Team), its Board, its lawyers, and its business personnel. And yet, our efforts to obtain basic information about how Apple handled antitrust issues relating to Apple Music were met with objections, resistance, and the provision of minimal information in response to repeated requests. In this respect, Apple has been its own worst enemy.
What might be Apple’s “positive story?” The monitor’s report is redacted in key areas, but Bromwich said that for example, Eddy Cue sought “antitrust training for Apple employees that worked on Apple Music, such as Beats founder Jimmy Iovine.”
Above: Jimmy Iovine, the founder of Beats, and Apple CEO Tim Cook. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)
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