[NewsPoster]

Apple has filed a formal objection against the compliance monitor in the recent e-book price-fixing lawsuit, crying foul over the attorney's alleged $69,000 weekly fees. The company's legal team also claims the monitor, Michael Bromwich, has exceeded his authority by demanding interviews with board members and executives, such as design head Jony Ive and board member Al Gore, who are not involved in the business unit affected by the court decision.

"Apple has diligently accommodated Mr. Bromwich's premature and inappropriate demands, but it has become clear over the past six weeks that Mr. Bromwich views himself as an independent investigator whose role is to interrogate Apple personnel about matters unrelated to the injunction in an effort to ferret out any wrongdoing, all at Apple's expense," reads the complaint, which was posted by AllThingsD.

Bromwich fired back in a letter to CEO Tim Cook and the board of directors, claiming that the company has "not been responsive" to its court-ordered obligations. He argues that Apple is attempting to "manage [his team's] relationship as though we are its outside counsel or consultant, to whom it can dictate terms and conditions," and calls for more access to liaisons that is "unfiltered" by the company's legal team.

Apple is currently attempting to appeal the court's initial decision.

[Inkling]

$69,000 a week! Assuming a 40-hour week, that's $1,725 an hour or over 215 times the state's minimum wage. Even for the legal profession, that's excessive.

Keep in mind the context, This lawyer is court-appointed to make sure that Apple doesn't engage in the dastardly crime of charging someone $10.99 for an ebook that's 'supposed' to be $9.99. Somehow, I can't imagine this lawyer caring a rip about anything unethical going on at Apple. Also, keep in mind that the money he collects will ultimately come out of our pockets when we buy from Apple or from the value of stocks of those who're not nearly as rich as this lawyer undoubtedly. This guy is, quite literally, robbing poor widows. Perhaps the only thing that exceeds his greed is his strange moral arrogance.

My sympathies are entirely with Apple in this one. The judge should fire this jerk and do so quickly.

[NeXTLoop]

Inkling hit the nail on the head. And lawyers wonder why they're so hated...

[Jubeikiwagami]

While Amazon continues to control the market. Something is wrong here. Blatantly wrong.

[Makosuke]

If he's trying to interview Jony Ive, it's clear he's not doing his job--the man has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the book-selling arm of Apple apart from oversight of the UI team that does app design.

And that's before you get to the fact that he's charging $69K a week to do it.

Oversight, fine, but I'd be cheesed if I were Apple, too. And like Jubeikiwagami said, Amazon still holds a near-monopoly in the market...

[driven]

I'm not a lawyer, but this sounds like something that could get him disbarred.