The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan retained a previous court's decision on Apple Inc. involving an increase in e-book prices. The computer and phone giant agreed to settle antitrust claims worth $450 million over charges of agreeing with five publishers to raise e-book prices.
In 2012, the U.S. Justice Department accused Apple and the five largest publishers namely, Penguin, HarperCollins, Hachette, Simon & Schuster, and Macmillan, of conniving to increase e-book prices and filed an antitrust lawsuit against the iPhone maker, Wall Street Journal reported. The allegations claimed that executives of the publishing firms discussed addressing Amazon Inc.'s practice of offering high discounts for e-books. They purportedly emailed about resolving "the wretched $9.99 price point."
Apple and the five publishers arranged to have the prices of top rank e-books hiked to $12.99 or $14.99. They grouped together so that Amazon will follow their pricing scheme, prosecutors claimed.
In 2013, the five publishers agreed on a settlement for $164 million, Arstechnica cited. Apple fought the charges but the court ruled in favor of the Justice Department and 33 states. The company filed an appeal at the Second Court of Appeals in February 2014. By July last year, the court still maintained the previous court decision.
The latest decision of the Manhattan Court of Appeals still upheld the decision in favor of Apple making the settlement. The lawsuit was filed by e-book buyer John Bradley, who claimed that the settlement agreed by Apple was not deemed fair, reasonable and adequate, Reuters reported Feb. 17.
Apple, meanwhile, took the settlement case to the Supreme Court, saying that paying $400 million to consumers as compensation and another $50 million for legal fees.
Apple has appealed that finding to the U.S. Supreme Court, saying it could harm competition and the economy. The Supreme Court is still deciding if the case should be tried. A retrial could result in Apple paying only $50 million in compensation and $20 million in legal fees. If the case resulted in a reversal of the settlement decision, Apple need not pay anything, Reuters noted.
