West Virginia wins antitrust lawsuit against Apple

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – A U.S. District Court ruled Wednesday that Apple Inc. conspired to fix the prices of electronic books which violated the Sherman Antitrust Act and various state laws.

Thirty-three states, including West Virginia, sued Apple in the case.

In the ruling, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York found Apple played a key role in creating and executing a conspiracy with five publishing houses publishers to raise e-book prices in the spring of 2010.

The publishers include Penguin, Harper Collins, Simon & Schuster, Macmillan and Hachette book group.

The Court said that Apple met with publishers prior to the launch of its iPad tablet and iBookstore in January 2010 and reached an agreement with them to offer electronic versions of books simultaneously with the hard cover releases and promised to charge a higher amount for those titles.

State Attorney General Patrick Morrisey released the following statement after the ruling was made.

“This order is a victory for consumers in West Virginia who paid more for e-books bought between 2010 and 2012 because of an illegal agreement between Apple and five of the largest publishers,” Morrisey said.

The five publishers settled the states’ claims against them prior to trial. Consumers nationwide received more than $165 million in compensation as part of the settlement.

The issue of damages is expected to be addressed at a future proceeding. Apple is expected to appeal the ruling.