U. S. District Judge Denise Cote in Manhattan ruled on Wednesday that Apple's CEO Tim Cook must sit for a deposition in the lawsuit which the U. S. Department of Justice (DoJ) has filed against the bigwig tech firm over alleged price-fixing in the e-book market.

Judge Cote, who is overseeing the e-books antitrust lawsuit, had hinted at the possibility of Cook's deposition in his brief order on March 8. On Wednesday, March 13, the judge granted a request by the DoJ for compelling Cook to give a deposition, limiting it to four hours.

Earlier, against the backdrop of DoJ's accusations that Apple had connived with five publishers to increase the prices of e-book prices, the lawyers for the Department's Antitrust Division had written a letter to Cote on March 6, seeking "assistance in settling a discovery dispute" with Apple over Cook's deposition.

In another March 6-dated letter which was filed in the court on Wednesday, Lawrence Buterman - a lawyer for the U. S. - had said that Cook was the only defendant CEO who had not agreed to be questioned under oath as part of the lawsuit.

Requesting the judge to ask Cook to testify, Buterman said in the letter that Cook was Apple's CEO who shouldered the responsibility of the day-to-day running of Apple when late Steve Jobs was unwell; and added: "Mr. Cook is likely to have highly relevant information regarding Apple's decision to enter the e-books market and its related strategies that are at issue in this case."