Apple is a company not unfamiliar with the court room. On an average the tech giant gets involved in at least one court case in a year since its rise to fame. However, what is unusual is the plaintiff’s evidence against Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) which always puts Apple in hot water. The Plaintiff has Steve Jobs, or at least his words, which portray Apple in a negative light and may make it lose the case.
For all who knew Steve Jobs, he was a driven man who cared deeply about the success of his company. However, recent emails which have unfolded portray Mr. Jobs in a light which borders on illegal, at least in the court of law. Many of his emails seem to suggest plotting, threatening, or acting, against competitors of Apple, and, in some cases, even his own.
Almost three years have passed since the death of Steve Jobs in 2011. He is still very much alive, and powerful, in court.
As December 2014 will begin, the company will face another legal battle where Steve Jobs will weaken its stance drastically. Entering its third major anti-trust lawsuit, Apple seems to have already lost the case, with Jobs’ emails making up a large chunk of the plaintiff’s case. The loss is not that big though, at least for Apple. The maximum the company may lose in this case is $350 million. For a company which made an $8.5 billion in profit last year, this is nothing.
Company executives often hire individuals to write all their emails in a manner which disregard any possibility of these emails being used against them. Steve Jobs it seems did nothing for this cause and was not careful about what he wrote and hence all his emails now appear to either threaten his opponents, or give promises of unrealistically great rewards to potential partners in business.
The latest episode in lawsuits is a case brought by consumers of the old iPod, who claim Apple Inc. enforced the use of its iPod with its iTunes store, and disallowed purchases from stores of its competitors.
Emails of Steve Jobs, among other evidence, will formulate the primary evidence the plaintiff has in this case. According to the lawyers representing the plaintiff, the emails will portray Steve Jobs trying to “block [Apple’s] competitors” and planned to “process harmed competition and harmed consumers” to protect the business of digital music.
No comments have been made by Apple in this regard.
Keeping in line with all previous law suits contested with Apple, this lawsuit will also bring even more emails by Steve Jobs out in the open.
Apple has come under fire numerous times before as a piranha in the business world. 2010 was a year when Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), together with five other Silicon Valley companies, came under fire when the companies were accused of conspiring to keep wages down by cooperating with each other for not hiring workers who leave one company to go to the next.
In one particular email, Steve Jobs discusses the practice of Google to hire ex-Apple employees. In words, which have become infamous now, Jobs asks the recipient of the email, “can you put a stop to it?”