Apple has reached an out-of-court settlement with plaintiffs seeking compensation for an alleged e-book price-fixing scheme in the United States.
According to the Justice Department’s 2012 complaint, Apple took advantage of the book publishers’ frustration with Amazon’s low e-book prices to facilitate an illegal deal that would drive up prices and make Apple a player in the e-book market as it prepared for the 2010 launch of the iPad.
The publishers – Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins Publishers, Macmillan, Penguin Group and Simon & Schuster – settled for more than $US166 million to avoid a trial. Apple unsuccessfully fought Justice’s lawsuit, resulting in the federal court’s ruling to appoint a monitor to ensure that Apple would comply with antitrust laws. That decision is under appeal.
