The anonymous sources have been awfully talkative about the Justice Department vs. publishers affair, haven’t they? The latest word, by way of Reuters, is that the Department of Justice might settle with some publishers and file suit against Apple as early as…tomorrow (Wednesday). The Justice Department, publishers, and Apple either could not be reached or declined comment.
So who exactly are these anonymous blabbermouths, anyway? PaidContent speculates that they might be someone in the Justice Department, whose departing antitrust chief made some very gung-ho comments about certain unnamed businesses to the Wall Street Journal a couple of weeks back. That opinion is shared by Michael Cader, founder of Publishers Lunch, who thinks the DoJ has been using the Wall Street Journal (where many of the leaks appeared) as a sort of public stalking horse.
Or, PaidContent continues, it could be someone with one (or more) of the publishing companies that have decided to settle rather than face a costly legal battle, and the leaks could be their way of trying to hurry the process along and just get it over with.
Either way, it looks like we’d better get our popcorn ready, because the show could kick off as soon as tomorrow: the fearsome Department of Justice vs. the almighty Apple in a no-holds-barred anti-trust rumble to the finish!
