Apple found guilty of playing a central role in "facilitating and executing” conspiracy to fix e-book prices
Apple has been found guilty of attempting to fix the price of e-books by conspiring with publishers.
According to Manhattan Judge Denise Cote the tech giant had “conspired to restrain trade” and the US Department of Justice claimed that the conspiracy was designed to put a halt to Amazon’s dominance in the marketplace.
“The plaintiffs have shown that the publisher defendants conspired with each other to eliminate retail price competition in order to raise e-book prices, and that Apple played a central role in facilitating and executing that conspiracy. Without Apple's orchestration of this conspiracy, it would not have succeeded as it did in the spring of 2010,” ruled the US judge.
Penguin and four other publishers named as defendants have already reached settlements, with Penguin paying out $75m, Hachette, HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster creating a $69m fund for customer refunds and Macmillian settling for $26m.
Apple has yet to make a comment.