Steve Jobs testimony helps Apple win lawsuit

Jurors took just three hours today to decide on 10 years’ worth of litigation between Apple and a class action lawsuit that accused the tech giant of using an iPod software upgrade to corner the digital music market.

The eight-man jury in a Federal court in Oakland decided unanimously in Apple’s favour after evidence was presented, including video testimonial from the late Steve Jobs.

Plaintiffs were seeking damages of $350m from Apple to compensate consumers for a subsequent price increases that it claimed were a direct result of Apple’s improved market share.

Under US antitrust law the amount would have been automatically trebled had Apple been found guilty.

The trial ended somewhat farcically, with Apple lawyers accusing the plaintiffs of failing to present a single iPod customer who had actually been damaged by the rise in prices.

Two plaintiffs were withdrawn after it was disclosed that they had not in fact purchased iPods, a third was not given time to testify and an economist appearing on behalf of the plaintiffs admitted that he has not assessed the impact of the new iPod software.