The Department of Justice is blasting Apple today in a new filing following up on its proposals on August 2nd. In the new filing, reported by the Los Angeles Times, it's clearly annoyed with how Apple has been treating the ongoing discussions around remedies in the case, saying "they resist proposed changes intended to strengthen their internal compliance processes, refuse to undertake basic efforts aimed at restoring price competition in the marketplace, and even decline to commit to not repeating their anticompetitive practices in other content markets." The filing later adds that "the court should have no confidence that Apple on its own effectively can ensure that its illegal conduct will not be repeated."
Apple has been equally dismissive of the DOJ’s proposals
While the Justice Department did propose cutting the total length of the injunction against Apple from ten years to five, halving the length of a proposed oversight regime, the rest of the proposal is essentially the same as what was discussed earlier this month. The tone of this most recent filing is clearly one of exasperation, but Apple has been equally dismissive of the DOJ’s proposals, which it sees as overly intrusive given the scope of the wrongdoing in the case. Publishers have come to Apple’s defense as well, with five of the companies filing an objection to the DOJ’s proposals, arguing that they "effectively punish the settling defendants by prohibiting agreements with Apple using an agency model." Under the current proposals, Apple would be "prohibited from entering into agreements with suppliers of e-books, music, movies, television shows or other content that are likely to increase the prices at which Apple’s competitor retailers may sell that content" for a period of five years.