雙語新聞：蘋果音樂反壟斷案開審 喬布斯“還魂”作證

雙語新聞：蘋果音樂反壟斷案開審 喬布斯“還魂”作證

本周二，10年前的一場(chǎng)蘋果壟斷案在加利福尼亞州的奧克蘭開庭，蘋果被指利用iPod系統(tǒng)強(qiáng)迫用戶支付更多費(fèi)用，案件的索賠金額為3.5億美元。盡管喬布斯已經(jīng)去世，但在過去的案件中，喬布斯的電子郵件卻讓他成為了一個(gè)重要的證人。

Next month, the company is set to go to trial in the third major antitrust lawsuit it has faced since Mr. Jobs died. His emails will play an important role in the case, as they did in the last two. But lawyers will probably have to work hard to give his statements a positive spin. The potential damages — around $350 million — are a pittance for a company that in its last quarter had an $8.5 billion profit.
　　下個(gè)月，蘋果公司將出庭受審，這是喬布斯去世以來該公司面臨的第三宗大型反壟斷訴訟。和之前的兩起案件一樣，他的電子郵件將在這起案件中起到重要作用。但代理律師可能必須下些功夫，才能用正面的說辭解釋喬布斯說過的話。此案的賠償金可能高達(dá)3.5億美元（約合22億元人民幣），但對(duì)于這家上季度盈利85億美元的公司而言，這筆錢不足掛齒。

Executives are often told by their lawyers to be careful what they put in writing for fear it will end up as evidence in a courtroom. Perhaps Mr. Jobs did not get the memo. His emails in past lawsuits — a mix of blunt litigation threats against his opponents and cheery financial promises for potential business partners — have made him an exceptional witness against his own company, even beyond the grave.
　　律師常常讓企業(yè)高管注意書面的內(nèi)容，原因是擔(dān)心它們最后會(huì)成為呈堂證供。或許喬布斯沒有收到過律師的提醒。盡管他已經(jīng)去世，但在過去的案件中，喬布斯的電子郵件卻讓他成為了一個(gè)重要的證人，只是對(duì)自己的公司不利——那些郵件中，既有起訴對(duì)手的赤裸裸的威脅，也有對(duì)潛在商業(yè)伙伴欣然許下的財(cái)務(wù)承諾。

The emails in all these cases present the good and bad of Steve Jobs — charmer and bully, someone who may not always have played by the rules.
　　所有這些案件中涉及的電子郵件，呈現(xiàn)出了喬布斯好的一面和不好的一面——時(shí)而頗具魅力，時(shí)而橫行霸道，而且并不總是按規(guī)矩辦事。

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The latest case to bring Mr. Jobs’s spirit into a courtroom is set to begin on Tuesday in Oakland, Calif. It is a class action involving older iPods, which played only songs sold in the iTunes Store, or those downloaded from CDs, not music from competing stores. The plaintiffs are consumers who say Apple violated antitrust law because to keep their music, people had to stay with the iPod, and buy higher-priced ones rather than cheaper, alternative music players. Apple has since discontinued this system.
　　最近這起讓喬布斯的靈魂走上法庭的案件，定于周二在加州奧克蘭開庭。這是一起集體訴訟，涉及版本較老的iPod。它們只能播放iTunes Store銷售的音樂，以及從CD上導(dǎo)出的音樂，無法播放從對(duì)手的商店購(gòu)買的音樂。作為原告的消費(fèi)者稱，蘋果違反了反壟斷法，因?yàn)闉榱吮Ａ糍?gòu)買的音樂，人們不得不一直使用iPod，購(gòu)買價(jià)格較高的iPod產(chǎn)品，而非更便宜的其他音樂播放器。蘋果已經(jīng)終止了這一做法。

Mr. Jobs’s emails and videotaped deposition taken before his death, plaintiffs’ lawyers say, will portray him as planning to break a competitor’s product to protect Apple’s grip on digital music.
　　原告律師稱，喬布斯的電子郵件，以及他去世前錄制的證詞視頻表明，為了保護(hù)蘋果對(duì)數(shù)字音樂的掌控，他打算搞垮競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手的一款產(chǎn)品。

“We will present evidence that Apple took action to block its competitors and in the process harmed competition and harmed consumers,” said Bonny Sweeney, the lead plaintiffs’ lawyer.
　　“我們將呈上證據(jù)，表明蘋果采取了遏制競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手的行動(dòng)，并在此過程中妨礙了競(jìng)爭(zhēng)，損害了消費(fèi)者的利益，”首席原告的代理律師邦尼·斯威尼(Bonny Sweeney)說。

Apple declined to comment.
　　蘋果拒絕置評(píng)。

A few of the emails have already been made public. In one, sent in 2003 to other Apple executives, Mr. Jobs expressed concern about Musicmatch, a software company, opening its own music store.
　　其中幾封電子郵件已被公開。2003年，喬布斯在發(fā)給蘋果其他高管的電子郵件中，表達(dá)了對(duì)Musicmatch的擔(dān)憂。這家軟件公司當(dāng)時(shí)要啟動(dòng)自己的音樂商店。

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“We need to make sure that when Music Match launches their download music store they cannot use iPod,” he wrote. “Is this going to be an issue?”
　　“我們需要確保Music Match在發(fā)布他們的下載音樂商店時(shí)，沒法用iPod，”他寫道。“這會(huì)成為問題嗎？”

More emails are expected to become public during the trial.
　　預(yù)計(jì)會(huì)有更多電子郵件在周二開始的庭審期間被公之于眾。

The case involving the iPod has kicked around various Bay Area federal courts for a decade. It is an amalgam of multiple suits, with over 900 filings from lawyers on both sides.
　　這樁與iPod有關(guān)的案子10年來由灣區(qū)的多家聯(lián)邦法院經(jīng)手。它是多起訴訟結(jié)合的產(chǎn)物，雙方律師提交的文件數(shù)量在900份以上。

The jury will hear from some of Apple’s top executives, including Philip W. Schiller, the head of marketing, and Eddy Cue, who oversees iTunes and Apple’s other online services.
　　陪審團(tuán)將會(huì)聽取一些蘋果高管的證詞，包括營(yíng)銷負(fù)責(zé)人菲利普·W·席勒(Philip W. Schiller)，以及負(fù)責(zé)iTunes等蘋果在線服務(wù)的埃迪·庫埃(Eddy Cue)。

And they will probably point out that the price of iPods have gone down over the years, not up, regardless of what Apple did with its software.
　　他們可能將指出，無論蘋果對(duì)自己的軟件做了什么改變，iPod的價(jià)格過去幾年一直在下降，并沒有提高。

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