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