Poor Schiller testimony

Apple's VP of worldwide product marketing, Phil Schiller, was "wholly unprepared and unwilling to testify" during a deposition last week, say attorneys for Psystar. The company recently called a string of Apple executives to testify in its battle over installing Mac OS X on third-party computers. In a filed complaint, Schiller is alleged to have been uncooperative, unable to provide any information on the damages Apple claims to have suffered as a result of Mac cloning.

"Apple's furnishing a witness on injury who was wholly unprepared to testify about that subject is a discovery violation that relates to a core issue in this case, the harm, if any, that Apple suffered as a result of Psystar's conduct," the filing reads. Psystar goes on to ask the court for several orders, including better preparation of Schiller, a second deposition in the offices of Psystar's lead counsel, and compensation for the legal fees created by "Mr. Schiller's deposition, this brief, and any subsequent proceedings."

Apple has responded by calling the deposition "nothing more than an effort to harass one of Apple's senior executives and prematurely seek expert testimony." The company further accuses Psystar of leaving facts out of its complaint, such as what Schiller was willing to discuss. "Despite Apple's objections," reads a statement, "Psystar's counsel sought testimony on the quantification of damages -- the subject of expert testimony -- rather than the injury suffered by Apple...Mr. Schiller was fully prepared to discuss the non-quantifiable injury to Apple but Psystar's counsel chose to not ask those questions and terminated the deposition instead."

Lawyers for Apple do say they have dropped intentions of recovering lost profits from Psystar, as a result of having seen partial financial records. The latter party only recently emerged from bankruptcy protection, and then only to minimize its legal burdens. The money that might be taken from Psystar, Apple says, is not worth the tradeoff of disclosing internal profit margin figures.

"In light of Apple's decision not to seek lost profits and Psystar's stated intent to disclose Apple's confidential information," the company informs, "Apple now seeks a protective order specifically precluding the discovery by Psystar of Apple's non-public profit margins on the sale of individual products or product lines." Instead, the company says it is only willing to reveal data connected to revenue, advertising and research and development for Macs and Mac OS X.

by MacNN Staff