Apple Guilty of eBook Price Fixing

For those who were paying attention at the time this may not be much of a surprise.  It seemed ... wrong to me as it was happening and I felt we were seeing collusion by multiple companies desiring to raise prices.  I felt it was bad for consumers and I still feel that way.

If you are in the same camp as I have been today's ruling is good news.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57593034-93/apple-found-guilty-of-e-books-price-fixing/

Here is a brief bit from the article:

The U.S. Department of Justice, which initially sued Apple and a handful of the nation's largest publishers last year, said Apple and the publishers had two objectives when making their deals: raise e-book prices and restrain retail price competition to hurt Amazon. Apple rejected the charges and said a guilty verdict could hurt how digital media deals are negotiated.

Not much more news in that story yet, though it will be updated as more comes out.  This story will continue to play out in the days and weeks ahead as damages are still to be determined.

Happy reading,

J.W. Gant

**UPDATE**

This ArsTechnica write-up tells a good part of the story:

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/07/how-apple-led-an-e-book-price-conspiracy-in-the-judges-words/

Earlier today, Apple lost a major case when District Judge Denise Cote ruled that the company led a conspiracy to raise e-book prices above those charged by Amazon. Cote's 160-page ruling, released this morning, offered some intricate detail on just how that conspiracy worked.

Cote described how Apple struck agreements with each of the five publisher defendants—who settled the case before trial—in order to push e-book rates higher than Amazon's. The negotiations happened in the seven weeks leading up to the January 27, 2010 announcement of the iPad.

**UPDATE #2**

More news coming through.  This is becoming a very good yarn in its own way.

http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2013/07/apple_e_book_price_fixing_federal_judge_rules_in_amazon_s_favor.html

The battle for the e-book market was, at its heart, a fight between Steve Jobs’ and Jeff Bezos’ differing business philosophies. Amazon was bent on keeping prices low, even at the cost of profits. Apple, as ever, wanted to make sure that it could make a bundle on e-books. The iBookstore was Apple’s effort to do to Amazon what it had so long done to the rest of the tech industry: Beat it over the head with a combination of better software, hardware, and content. With the iPad, Apple hoped to create a device that would make Amazon’s Kindle obsolete, and give it the same dominance over books that the iPod had given it over music.

**UPDATE #3**

How does the ruling impact your wallet?

http://www.digitaltrends.com/apple/apple-e-book-fallout-what-it-means-for-your-wallet/

One likely scenario is that Apple will have to pay some customers who purchased e-books between 2010 and 2012 a little bit of money – some approximation of the difference between what you did pay, and what you would have paid had Apple not gotten all meddlesome on us.

More Later as this Story Continues