Sunday, February 2, 2014

Apple could pay up to $840 million over e-book conspiracy

Apple’s shady e-books deal with publishers could see the world’s largest technology company pay up to $840 million in damages, in a case of the State attorneys and consumers versus Apple.

The state attorneys and consumers who sued Apple over its e-book pricing are asking for $280 million and want the amount tripled, according to a filing by their lawyer with the federal judge in Manhattan who presided over the U.S. case against Apple.
Apple logo

 The plaintiffs think that Apple has been proven guilty of this offence and they’re entitled to triple damages under the antitrust law.
It was revealed in 2012 that Apple had signed agreements with publishers to sell their e-books under the agency model. The agency model allows publishers to set the price of e-books instead of retailers. Apple will in turn get 30% of sales of the e-books.
After the trial in 2013, U.S. District Judge Denise Cote concluded 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.

Apple appealed the trial and there will be another trial this year. This ‘small’ amount of money is only 0.5% of $158.8 billion in cash that Apple reported it had as at the end of 2013.

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