Computer giant says there was no conspiracy, plans to file appeal to fight what officials say are ‘false accusations’

A federal judge has ruled that computer giant Apple violated antitrust law by conspiring with publishers to raise e-book prices. In 2012, the Department of Justice brought charges against Apple and five major publishers—Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins Publishers, Holtzbrinck Publishers (Macmillan), Penguin Group (USA) and Simon & Schuster—all of which settled, leaving Apple to have its day in court alone. 

Plaintiffs—the Justice Department and 33 states and U.S. territories—filed suits April 11, 2012, alleging that Apple and the five publishers conspired to “raise, fix and stabilize the retail price for newly released and bestselling trade e-books” in violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Antitrust Act and various state laws.

In federal Judge Denise Cote’s 159-page decision issued July 10 from the U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, she wrote: “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.”

Apple has a vested interest in e-book sales, as it sells the iPad tablet and distributes digital books through its iBookstore. The collusion was seen as an effort to compete with Amazon’s $9.99 price on many e-books, including New York Times best-sellers. The court’s opinion explained how and why prices for many e-books “rose significantly” in the U.S. in April 2010.

The opinion also noted that the Plaintiffs “are entitled to injunctive relief” and that “a trial on damages will follow.”

Apple says it plans to appeal the ruling. Company spokesman Tom Neumayr denied that Apple conspired to fix e-book pricing and plans to continue to fight the “false accusations.”

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