Skip to main content

Apple petitions the Supreme Court over accusations of ebook price fixing

Apple maintains it did nothing wrong when it colluded with publishers in 2010 to fix ebook prices, and the company is so certain of its innocence that it will attempt to sway the highest court in the land. In a filing submitted Wednesday, Apple requested a 30-day extension in order to file a writ of certiorari, a formal petition for audience before the Supreme Court.

It’s the latest development in a long-running case that spans years. The Justice Department and 33 states first filed a lawsuit against Apple in 2012, accusing the company of conspiring with big-name publishers Hachette, Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, Penguin, and Macmillian to supplant the ebook market’s then wholesale model with an agency model. Under the terms of a secretive arrangement, publishers reserved the right to dictate the price of ebooks on Apple’s iBooks store and elsewhere. In return, the iPhone maker received a bigger cut of sales.

Recommended Videos

“Apple did not conspire to fix ebook pricing and we know we did nothing wrong.”

The goal was to gain leverage against Amazon, which had grown to command 80 to 90 percent of all ebook sales in 2010, thanks a strategy of aggressively undercutting wholesale pricing. Under the agency model, ebook prices quickly rose,  in some cases by nearly 20 percent.

In 2013, U.S. District Judge Dennis Cote found Apple guilt of being “conscious[ly] committed to … engage in [the] illegal behavior” of fixing ebook prices. That decision was reaffirmed in a 2-1 federal appeals court ruling earlier this summer. Second Circuit Court Judge Debra Ann Livingston, writing for the majority, held that “the district court correctly decided that Apple orchestrated a conspiracy among the publishers to raise ebook prices.”

In the filing Wednesday, Apple argues that a decision against it would have grave implications for the creative economy. “Dynamic, disruptive entry into new or stagnant markets — the lifeblood of American economic growth — often requires the very type of” behavior that Apple engaged in, the company argues.

“We are disappointed the Court does not recognize the innovation and choice the iBooks Store brought for customers,” said an Apple spokesperson after the company’s appellate loss. “While we want to put this behind us, the case is about principles and values.”

Should the Supreme Court decline to hear the case, Apple’s expected to pay $450 million — most of it to customers of its iBooks store — to resolve antitrust liabilities with the Justice Department and other plaintiffs. That’s pocket change to a company of Apple’s size — around 3 percent of its 2014 fourth quarter revenue, to be exact — but the iPhone maker seems more concerned with the principle of the thing. “Apple did not conspire to fix ebook pricing … and we know we did nothing wrong,” the company said in a statement earlier this year.

Kyle Wiggers
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Kyle Wiggers is a writer, Web designer, and podcaster with an acute interest in all things tech. When not reviewing gadgets…
OnePlus 13T: Everything you need to know
OnePlus 13T

After a long wait filled with leaks and rumors, the OnePlus 13T has officially made its debut in China. It's a smaller, more compact alternative to the main OnePlus 13 lineup, and despite initial guesses, it's called the 13T — not the OnePlus 13 Mini. It's a smaller phone for those that prefer subtle devices over pocket-busters, but that doesn't mean it lacks power.

Unlike devices like the now-defunct iPhone Mini, the OnePlus 13T doesn't sacrifice power for size. It's currently only available in China, but there is hope for a global launch. Here's everything you need to know about the latest handheld from OnePlus.

Read more
Gemini AI is coming to cars, wearables, and more this year, Google confirms
Android Auto in a car.

Google's Gemini AI has been a hit with phone users, with the chatbot offering the ability to answer complex questions, provide information in bullet points, and giving the option to export answers to a Doc file. Other features include the ability to analyze files, interact with the phone's camera to give information about what you're looking at, and other assistant-like functions which put it ahead of Apple's Siri. It's been out as an app for Android and iOS devices for a while now, and will also be coming to Google TV.

Now, Google has confirmed that people will be able to use Gemini on a wider variety of devices, as it will be coming to Android Auto, wearables, and more. It will be rolling out to these devices later this year, Google announced.

Read more
More iPhones could get a memory upgrade, but some will have to wait
The Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max's screen.

It's good news and bad news today. The good part is that iPhones are due for a memory upgrade, and it seems that more models will get the RAM boost compared to previous expectations. The bad news? It won't be all models, and we'll have to wait for the iPhone 18 to get more memory across the board.

The scoop comes from a reputable source on all things Apple: Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. Still, don't take it all at face value; things might change, and nothing is official until Apple itself says so. With that out of the way, let's dig in.

Read more