Apple has settled its e-book price-fixing lawsuit out of court

Apple has settled a long-running antitrust case out of court, potentially avoiding a $840 million fine. The company had been accused of colluding with publishers to artificially inflate ebook prices in the iBookstore and, by proxy, other outlets like Amazon, in a class-action suit brought on behalf of US consumers in 2012. The suit alleged that Apple’s “agency model” pricing structure, which forbade publishers from selling their content at a lower price with other retailers, was anti-competitive. In July last year, a court ruled in favour of the plaintiffs, a ruling that Apple appealed. The damages hearing was due to start in July, which could have seen Apple issued with a fine of up to $840 million.

Apple Inc reached an out-of-court settlement with U.S. states and other complainants in an e-book price-fixing class action lawsuit on Monday, effectively avoiding a trial in which the iPad maker faced more than $800 million in claims. U.S. District Judge in Manhattan Denise Cote ordered the parties to submit a filing to seek approval of their settlement within 30 days. The terms of the settlement, which still needs court approval, have not been revealed. The U.S. Department of Justice sued Apple and five publishers in April 2012, accusing them of working together illegally to increase e-book prices. Since then, 33 states and U.S. territories have separately sued Apple on behalf of their consumers, while individual consumers in other states and territories filed a class action lawsuit. The complainants are seeking up to $840 million in damages for e-book customers. The exact amount of damages was to be litigated at a trial scheduled for July 14. The publishers – Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins Publishers, Penguin Group (USA) Inc, Macmillan and Simon & Schuster Inc, previously agreed to pay more than $166 million to settle related antitrust charges.