Apple (AAPL) will pay millions in a legal settlement for overcharging consumers by some $280 million for e-books.
The plaintiffs had been seeking $840 million from Apple, though the settlement does not disclose how much Apple will have to pay. The deal will have to be approved by the court.
The suit — filed in US District Court in New York — alleges that Apple violated antitrust laws when it colluded with five US publishers to increase the price of e-books.
Via the Wall Street Journal:
In the antitrust lawsuit, filed more than two years ago, Justice Department prosecutors argued that Apple used publishers’ dissatisfaction with Amazon.com Inc’s aggressive e-book discounting to shoehorn itself into the digital-book market when it launched the iPad in 2010. Apple’s proposal: Let publishers set prices themselves. That led to Amazon losing the ability to price most e-book best sellers at $9.99, causing prices to rise.
The judge in the case ruled last year that there was amble evidence to believe that Apple was at the center of the price fixing.
Apple is continuing to be reviewed by a court-appointed monitor who is examining AAPL’s price-fixing reforms.
AAPL stock is up .10% in morning trading, and up 15% year to date.
