US judge denies Apple's move to hold off e-book antitrust trial
E-Books are seen on an ipad. Daniel Roland | AFP | Getty Images

A U.S. federal judge denied a bid by Apple on Wednesday to hold off a trial in a case brought by state attorneys general accusing the company of conspiring with five major publishers to fix e-book prices. U.S. District Judge Denise Cote in a brief order said the July 14 trial had already been postponed once and should go forward, paving the way for more than two dozen states to pursue hundreds of millions of dollars in damages. Following a non-jury trial last year, Cote found that Apple from 2009 to 2010 conspired with the publishers to raise e-book prices and impede competitors such as Amazon .

watch now

The trial to assign damages was supposed to be held in May but it was pushed back two months to allow adequate time for class notification, Cote's order said. Apple later on Wednesday asked a federal appeal's court to intervene and halt the trial. "The district court is ... pressing forward with class notice and a trial in both cases in July, despite the irreparable harm to Apple's reputation among its consumers if class notice is disseminated," the company said in its filing at the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Eric Lipman, an assistant attorney general in Texas wrote a letter to Cote on Wednesday opposing Apple's motion to postpone the trial. Read More Apple earnings will steer stocks "If any stay is issued, the feasibility of a July 14 trial is significantly decreases. The Court should not countenance Apple's latest effort to further delay a jury's determination," the letter said. After Cote's ruling last year, the states had pursued the liability finding alongside the U.S. Justice Department and obtained an injunction against the iPad maker in September that called for the appointment of a compliance monitor.