Ondrej Holzman In the last instance that Apple could hear in a big case with artificial manipulation of prices in the e-book market, the Californian company failed. The Supreme Court in the United States will not deal with the case, so Apple must pay $450 million (11,1 billion crowns), which it had previously agreed upon.
Apple to the Supreme Court called off after previous failures, but the highest judicial instance decided not to deal with the case. The original applies a federal appeals court ruling, in which the US Department of Justice and a total of 30 other states that sued Apple won.
The iPhone manufacturer already in 2014 he agreed, that the settlement with allegedly harmed customers who purchased e-books will amount to $400 million, with another $20 million going to the states and $30 million to cover court costs.
According to the Justice Department, Apple was guilty of knowingly raising prices across the industry when it entered the e-book market in 2010 with the introduction of the first iPad and the iBookstore. He wanted to compete with the unequivocal hegemon, Amazon, which held the majority of the market and sold e-books for $9,99.
The court found Apple guilty of persuading the five largest publishing houses to switch to the so-called agency model, in which they, not the seller, set the prices. Judge Denis Cote concluded that it was this model that ultimately led to a 40 percent increase in the prices of electronic bestsellers.
Apple tried to argue that its entry into the market provided customers with an alternative to the hitherto dominant Amazon, and in the final reckoning a few years after the opening of the iBookstore, electronic prices fell. However, the court did not hear his arguments and Apple now has to pay the aforementioned 450 million dollars.
The five publishing houses settled with the US Department of Justice without trial and previously paid a total of $166 million.
Complete coverage of the extensive case can be found on Jablíčkář under the label #kauza-ebook.
