[ajsharp]

I'm no lawyer, but I'm pretty sure what Jobs was suggesting was some form of collusion. I don't know that his threats could be held up as extortion, but collusion is a prosecutable offense. My question is, what might be the statute of limitations on something like this? Does it disappear with the passing of Jobs, or could Apple still be held responsible for this?

[dworin]

That's exactly what he's accused of doing, although it's an anti-trust case, not collusion. This e-mail came out as evidence in a lawsuit where former employees allege that major tech companies agreed not to cold call each others employees, to the detriment of those employees. A Department of Justice investigation into the practice was settled a few years ago with the companies agreeing to discontinue the practice.

Since it's the company that's liable, not Jobs personally, it doesn't matter that he isn't the CEO anymore.

[josephlord]

I'm sure Apple could be held responsible. What I don't know is if attempting to collude to distort the market is illegal or just actually making such an agreement. As the answer was no are Apple technically in the clear?

[djt]

He was CEO at the time so the company would be liable.