"The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) came out swinging in its opening statement of its antitrust suit against Apple in New York on June 3, 2013. The April 2012 suit alleged that what was then the Big Six trade publishers conspired with Apple to "limit ebook price competition ... [and] reached an agreement whereby retail price competition would cease (which all the conspirators desired), retail ebook prices would increase significantly (which the publisher defendants desired), and Apple would be guaranteed a 30 percent 'commission' on each ebook it sold (which Apple desired)." In the past year, all of the publishers settled with the DOJ, ending their involvement in the case. Apple, however, has chosen to fight the charges in court."
The Big Six (really five) publishers settled with DOJ on the charges, but Apple decided to fight the charges in court. I was asked to write up a summary of the case as it was being tried in federal court for Information Today's NewsBreaks. You might want to give the article a read.
The DOJ gave their summation late last week and in over 100 presentation slides, DOJ reiterated their charges that Apple and the publishers violated antitrust laws in their agreements on ebook pricing. Their presentation appears to be quite strong.
Who will win? Stay tuned. I'm sure this will be covered in all major news outlets!
