Judge issues injunction against Apple in e-book case |
Written by Jeremy Burns |
Wednesday, 11 September 2013 09:09 AM America/New_York |
U.S. District Judge Denise Cote—whose ruled in July that Apple was guilty of conspiring to fix e-book prices with five major publishers—issued her injunction on the company Sept. 6. The injunction was narrower in scope than the original recommendations from the U.S. Justice Department, as Cote had said in her initial comments on those recommendations that she wanted to make the judgment “rest as lightly as possible on how Apple runs its business.” As expected, Cote’s injunction not only limits its agreements with the publishers, but it also requires an external monitor to review Apple’s antitrust compliance policies and procedures for two years. Apple’s shares rose 0.6% on Friday, as the injunction avoided the more draconian measures that the Justice Department had initially recommended, one that could have affected the tech giant’s supplier agreements of other media, including music, movies and TV shows. Cote’s judgment will last for five years, but can be extended in one-year increments if deemed necessary. “Consumers will continue to benefit from lower e-book prices as a result of the department's enforcement action to restore competition in this important industry,” Assistant Attorney General Bill Baer said in a statement on behalf of the Justice Department. Apple said it would appeal the injunction. “Apple did not conspire to fix e-book pricing,” said company spokesman Tom Neumayr. “The iBookstore gave customers more choice and injected much-needed innovation and competition into the market.” |