Unites States of America v. Apple, Inc. et al
Filing
185
Letter addressed to Judge Cote from Apple, Inc. (Richard Parker) dated 2/14/2013 re: Apple/Amazon Discovery Dispute. Document filed by Apple, Inc. (Attachments: # 1 Exhibit A, # 2 Exhibit B, # 3 Exhibit C)(cr)
Exhibit A
1
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK
--------------------------------x
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff,
vs.
CASE NO.
12-CV-2826(DLC)
APPLE INC., et. al,
Defendants.
--------------------------------x
HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL
VIDEOTAPED DEPOSITION
RUSSELL GRANDINETTI
JANUARY 28, 2013
1918 Eighth Avenue
Seattle, Washington
REPORTED BY:
PAUL J. FREDERICKSON, CCR, CSR
JOB NO. 28636
RUSSELL GRANDINETTI - HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL
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GRANDINETTI - HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL
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MR. PARKER:
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this is 4.
4
5
I want to mark as -- I think
Am I right?
10:02:29
6
[Deposition Exhibit 4 marked.]
MR. KIPLING:
This is probably an opportune
7
time for me to ask:
8
this transcript as highly confidential?
9
10
What do I need to do to designate
MR. BUTERMAN:
10:02:56
I think what we've been doing
is you can make the point on the record that we will be
11
designating the transcript at least temporarily from this
12
moment forward as highly confidential, and then the
13
parties have been going back after the deposition, after
14
they've reviewed the final transcript, to see what
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10:03:14
portions needed to be designated highly confidential.
16
But we can sign -- I think we can all agree to assign a
17
highly confidential status for the deposition pending
18
review of that.
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MR. KIPLING:
10:03:26
Okay.
I would like to designate it as highly
21
confidential pending further review, and that was
22
highlighted by the fact that this document is
23
extraordinarily sensitive, with limited distribution
24
within Amazon.
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10:03:59
[Pause.]
DAVID FELDMAN WORLDWIDE, INC.
450 Seventh Avenue - Ste 500, New York, NY 10123 1.800.642.1099
RUSSELL GRANDINETTI - HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL
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A.
In Amazon culture?
3
Q.
What is "Jeff's boathouse"?
structure or is that something -- something else?
4
5
Is that a
A.
13:21:52
There is a house on -- there's a structure
6
on Jeff's property that I -- I don't really use the
7
term "boathouse" and haven't done, but it was on the
8
water.
Q.
9
10
Okay.
So on Friday the 22nd you got this email;
13:22:05
correct?
11
12
A.
Yep.
13
Q.
And the email --
14
A.
I mean, I'm just looking at the date.
15
Q.
Yeah.
16
A.
So I believe that to be true.
17
Q.
And the meeting was sometime earlier than
that.
18
Is it a fact that there was a meeting at Jeff's
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13:22:20
agency?
21
A.
22
I don't remember the specific date.
We --
a group of us met at Jeff's house on some weekend.
23
Q.
24
25
boathouse on Sunday morning, the 24th, to discuss
13:22:45
All right.
[Deposition Exhibit 13 marked.]
DAVID FELDMAN WORLDWIDE, INC.
450 Seventh Avenue - Ste 500, New York, NY 10123 1.800.642.1099
RUSSELL GRANDINETTI - HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL
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A.
Okay.
3
Q.
Does this refresh your recollection about a
4
5
Thank you.
meeting at Jeff's boathouse at 8:30 a.m. on Sunday,
13:23:23
6
January 24?
A.
Again, just because it was a while ago, I
7
can't say I remember the date in my mind.
8
meeting at Jeff's house over the weekend around this
9
time frame.
10
13:23:33
Q.
I do recall
Is that a regular occurrence in your
11
experience to meet at Jeff's, Jeff's house on a
12
weekend, on a Sunday morning?
13
A.
14
15
I've met at Jeff's house a couple times
and I would not say it's a regular occurrence.
13:23:48
16
Q.
Less than five times, would you say, in the
time you've been at Amazon?
17
A.
Yeah, something in that, in that nature.
18
Q.
And Mr. Bezos was the host of this meeting?
19
A.
Well, it was his house.
Q.
It was at his house?
21
A.
Yeah.
22
Q.
And he was present during the entire
20
13:24:05
23
meeting?
24
25
A.
13:24:11
He was present during the meeting, yes.
Q.
How long did the meeting last?
DAVID FELDMAN WORLDWIDE, INC.
450 Seventh Avenue - Ste 500, New York, NY 10123 1.800.642.1099
RUSSELL GRANDINETTI - HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL
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GRANDINETTI - HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL
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A.
3
I'm not -- I'm not certain.
4
5
I recall a couple of hours, maybe two, but
Q.
13:24:17
And what the topic -- excuse me -- the
topic of the discussion at the meeting?
6
MR. KIPLING:
7
I'm going to caution the
witness.
8
You can give a general topic here.
9
But I have discussed this meeting with him.
10
13:24:26
The
general counsel of Amazon and their regulatory counsel
11
were present, and this was a meeting at which Amazon
12
employees were seeking legal advice.
13
instruct him not to disclose what was discussed at that
14
meeting.
15
13:24:37
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MR. PARKER:
So I'm going to
Can you read back the question?
And we'll try to get an answer from the witness.
17
[The court reporter read back the question.]
18
A.
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My recollection is that, given the
proposals we had seen in the prior couple of days
13:25:02
21
about agency, we wanted to get together to discuss the
topic.
22
Q.
23
And did you -- was there a discussion of a
24
25
Okay.
business strategy in response to the request you had
13:25:18
been receiving that we've been talking about today to
DAVID FELDMAN WORLDWIDE, INC.
450 Seventh Avenue - Ste 500, New York, NY 10123 1.800.642.1099
RUSSELL GRANDINETTI - HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL
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GRANDINETTI - HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL
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A.
No.
3
Q.
Was there a discussion in that meeting of
4
5
any respect in which agency might be good for Amazon,
13:31:30
that is, sort of a "just say yes" policy and go to
6
agency because it's in Amazon's business interest?
7
that discussed?
8
MR. BUTERMAN:
9
10
A.
13:31:46
Was
Objection to form.
Again, because I was informed by counsel
about the serious legal issues involved in the agency
11
proposal, in my mind the business and legal issues are
12
inextricable, and that's the reason we asked -- I
13
believe they joined the meeting.
14
me it was appropriate for them to join the meeting,
15
13:32:01
I was -- they told
and we sought their advice during the discussion.
16
Q.
I'm sorry, who told you it was appropriate
18
A.
Our counsel.
19
Q.
Were they --
A.
Having reported the circumstances of the
17
20
for --
13:32:09
21
proposals we were given from publishers, the advice I
22
got from counsel was there were serious legal issues
23
tied up with the proposals we had received from
24
publishers, and that if we met, we should include
25
13:32:21
them, so we get their advice.
DAVID FELDMAN WORLDWIDE, INC.
450 Seventh Avenue - Ste 500, New York, NY 10123 1.800.642.1099
RUSSELL GRANDINETTI - HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL
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GRANDINETTI - HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL
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2
conversations with Apple about that policy and its
3
impact on Kindle and vice versa.
Q.
With whom at Apple did you speak?
A.
Phil Schiller, Eddie Cue, Steve Jobs.
6
Q.
Okay.
7
But nothing during the 2010 time period when
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5
14:12:03
you're negotiating these agency deals?
8
9
A.
No, I did not.
10
Q.
All right.
11
Did anybody at the publisher in connection with
12
negotiating the agency deals mention the type of
13
contract that they may have had with Apple?
A.
14
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14:12:36
In my experience publishers didn't often
or ever -- I can't recall them talking about Apple
specifically.
16
Based upon what I was reading in the press at
17
18
the time and indirect intimations of publishers,
19
sometimes I got the sense that their negotiations with
20
14:12:50
us were being driven by their Apple contracts but I -I can't point to anything specifically.
21
Q.
22
Can you point to any publisher that said
23
that, that what we're doing now is being driven by our
24
Apple content?
25
14:13:08
Anybody say that to you?
Any of the
publishers say that to you?
DAVID FELDMAN WORLDWIDE, INC.
450 Seventh Avenue - Ste 500, New York, NY 10123 1.800.642.1099
RUSSELL GRANDINETTI - HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL
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A.
All right.
that.
3
4
5
I don't remember specifically them saying
Q.
2
MR. PARKER:
14:13:15
6
right.
7
So let's do 52 here.
All
BY MR. PARKER:
Q.
8
While we're finding the document, let me
ask a couple of questions.
9
10
We're going to look at the --
14:13:27
So going back on Macmillan, shortly following
11
the boathouse meeting, Amazon made a decision not to
12
sell Macmillan's books; am I right?
A.
13
don't remember when.
14
15
It was some number of weeks after that.
14:13:48
Q.
Right.
And we talked about the participants in that
16
17
decision.
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was what?
19
A.
20
And your business objective in doing that
In -MR. KIPLING:
14:13:55
In doing what?
21
A.
Yeah, could you clarify?
22
Q.
Excuse me.
In refusing to -- withdrawn.
Let me start over.
23
Your business objective in refusing to sell
24
25
Yeah.
14:14:07
Macmillan's books was what?
DAVID FELDMAN WORLDWIDE, INC.
450 Seventh Avenue - Ste 500, New York, NY 10123 1.800.642.1099
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