Apple's e-book price-fixing case kicked off Monday in a New York courtroom, with federal officials presenting evidence that they say proves Cupertino conspired with publishers to inflate e-book prices.

During opening statements, however, Apple lawyers echoed what Tim Cook said during last week's D11 conference, calling the proceedings "bizarre," according to Reuters.

In an 81-slide PowerPoint presentation (below) that the Department of Justice provided to the press, the government highlighted email exchanges and phone calls between Eddy Cue, Apple's senior vice president of Internet Software and Services, and the company's top publishers: Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin, and Simon & Schuster.

In Jan. 2010, for example, Cue distributed to publishing executives a proposal that included "what I think is the best approach for e-books," he wrote. That included hardback books that sold for less than $35 to be sold as e-books in prices ranging from $12.99 to $0.99.

Apple pushed for the so-called agency approach which let publishers set the prices – usually between $12.99 and $14.99 - while distributors like Apple and Amazon take a cut of the sale. The other option is the wholesale model, whereby publishers sell books to distributors at a set price, and those distributors can sell the books at whatever price they see fit.

According to the DOJ, Apple pushed the agency model so that "as part of a conspiracy to raise, fix, and stabilize retail prices." Ultimately, the feds allege, Apple and the publishers hoped their conspiracy would force Amazon to raise its e-book prices.

According to Reuters, however, Apple attorney Orin Snyder argued today that "what the government wants to do is reverse engineer a conspiracy from a market effect."

The DOJ sued Apple and the five publishers in April 2012 over an alleged "illegal conspiracy" involving e-book price fixing. The publishers have since settled with the government, but Apple is fighting the case.