Even Faster Than Expected, Judge Finds Apple Guilty of Conspiracy to Raise eBook Prices

Publishers Lunch

Federal Judge Denise Cote ruled against Apple in the government's ebook price-fixing case even faster than was expected, fulfilling her preliminary inclination expressed before the trial began. ("As the parties were informed, the Court prepared a draft opinion in advance of the bench trial based on the witness affidavits and other documents submitted with the pretrial order and the arguments of counsel in their trial memoranda.")

Judge Cote found, "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. Without Apple’s orchestration of this conspiracy, it would not have succeeded as it did in the Spring of 2010." She notes, "A trial on damages will follow."


As surely will an appeal, as Apple spokesperson Tom Neumayr said in a statement. "Apple did not conspire to fix ebook pricing and we will continue to fight against these false accusations...When we introduced the iBookstore in 2010, we gave customers more choice, injecting much needed innovation and competition into the market, breaking Amazon's monopolistic grip on the publishing industry. We've done nothing wrong and we will appeal the judge's decision."