Just shows the monitor is needed
The more they bitch, moan and remain in denial about their behaviour, the more it shows why they need this level of scrutiny in the first place.
Apple hasn't given up the fight to get its court-appointed antitrust monitor thrown out as it takes its case to the US Appeals Court. The fruity firm has been trying to persuade the courts to put off the monitor's appointment until it has appealed against the guilty verdict imposed on it last year for conspiring to fix ebook …
The problem is Apple has bought tons of beer* for their lawyer. That's why he's pursuing this absurd line of appeals. For him there's the upside of more money and no downside, because lawyers in the US are rarely if ever held accountable for the stupidity of their clients' positions, even as they knowingly persist in enabling such stupidity for the sake of more billable hours.
*Figuratively speaking (i.e, they've spent a lot of money on him). I am not implying in any way that their lawyer is or would have to be a drunkard (or indeed any kind of drug addict) to persist in pursuing such a petulant petition.
I recommend the following article to any who actually want to know what is going on with this issue: http://features.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2014/02/03/apple-asking-appeals-court-to-freeze-monitor/
The reporting from another blog on the same website: Apple 2.0 actually discusses the hearing where the panel of judges asked questions about the legal issues. They appeared to be leaning towards writing more specific orders that limited the fishing expedition by the special counsel rather than replacing him.
If you had followed the original arguments you would realise that to an impartial observer all that has happened is that a monopoly has been handed to Amazon.. Well, actually, confirmed for Amazon as they already pretty much had that and Apple would have helped break it. It's well known that Apple don't pay huge sums to lobbyists in Washington, perhaps they should now reconsider that decision, stop playing fair and play the game like everyone else...
"In the appeals court yesterday Apple's attorney Theodore Boutrous said that the firm would suffer irreparable harm if the monitor was allowed to keep working while the court decides if his job is even legal in the first place, Reuters reported."
s/suffer irreparable harm/be less able to make mountains of cash from dodgy practices/
"All in all, I would think it more clever to handle the whole monitorship as discreetly as possible."
Yes.
A few years ago Apple was associated primarily with magical amazingness, at least in the minds of its fan base. (*) Nowadays its corporate image brings to mind litigation and sweatshops.
(*) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tekXxB6dosQ