NEW YORK (AP) — A U.S. government lawyer is portraying Apple Inc. as a corporate bully that swaggered into the market for electronic books in 2010, forcing an end to price competition and costing consumers hundreds of millions of dollars.
But an Apple lawyer is rebutting the government's claims, saying the company did not conspire with publishers to boost e-book prices.
A Justice Department lawyer claimed at the start of a trial Monday in New York that Apple and five book publishers deliberately tried to eliminate Amazon.com's $9.99 bargain price for the most popular e-books.
He asked a judge to find Apple had violated U.S. anti-trust laws. The five publishers have already settled in the case.
The trial is expected to last several weeks.
