Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs introduces the iPad 2 on stage during an Apple event in San Francisco, California March 2, 2011.
Credit: Reuters/Beck Diefenbach
Tue Mar 22, 2011 6:56am EDT
(Reuters) - A federal judge has ordered Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs to answer questions relating to an antitrust lawsuit that says the company's iTunes software maintained a monopoly in portable digital media players and music downloads.
Judge Howard Lloyd of U.S. District Court for Northern California on Monday ordered that lawyers representing the plaintiffs may question Jobs for a total of two hours.
Lloyd said the questioning of Jobs should be limited to changes Apple made to its software in October 2004 that prevented iTunes rival RealNetworks' music files from being played on Apple's iPod music players.
Jobs has been out on medical leave since late January and the court ruling comes amid an intense media scrutiny of his health condition.
"The court finds that Jobs has unique, non-repetitive, first hand knowledge about Apple's software updates in October 2004 that rendered the RealNetworks's digital music files once again inoperable with iPods," Judge Lloyd wrote in his ruling.
The case is in re Apple iPod iTunes antitrust litigation, Case No. 05-00037, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California.
(Reporting by Sakthi Prasad in Bangalore; Editing by David Holmes)
Credit: Reuters (www.reuters.com)
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