Apple Patches up its Relationship with Court-Appointed Monitor

Bromwich

Apple appears to have patched up its relationship with court-appointed antitrust monitor, as the company revises its policies to prevent antitrust violations, The Wall Street Journal is reporting. For those who aren’t aware, Apple has been consistently appealing against the compliance monitor Michael Bromwich, who was appointed by Judge Denise Cote last fall after she found Apple guilty of fixing eBook prices with five publishers.

In his first report to the federal judge who appointed him, attorney Michael Bromwich said his relationship with Apple as the technology company’s monitor has “significantly improved” in recent months but added that his team still lacks a significant amount of the information needed to do the job.

“Based on the information Apple has provided to date, our view is that Apple has made a promising start to enhancing its Antitrust Compliance Program, but that Apple still has much work to do,” Bromwich said in a 77-page report filed Monday.

Mr. Bromwich, who charges more than $1,000 an hour, has faced accusations from Apple stating that he aggressively and unnecessarily sought to interview its top executives. The US Department of Justice on the other hand, has been quite pleased with Bromwich’s work and has issued repeated rulings to back his appointment. But now, Bromwich has said that he and Apple had begun in late February a “reset” in relations, which he attributes largely to the company’s revamping of in-house policies to prevent antitrust violations.

Describing a meeting with Apple’s lawyers in March, Bromwich also revealed that the company had agreed to monthly meetings with him.

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