Loses in a trial where Apple challenged the Justice Department in a straight-line fight against electronic book price manipulation

Apple tried in 2013 in a trial where Apple complained that he was managing the price of e-books in collusion with multiple publishersFirst instance judgmentI appealed against the US Department of Justice against an appeal. The appeal trial took place on June 30, 2015, the second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the first instance Apple lost.

Apple Loses Federal Appeal in E-Books Case - WSJ
http://www.wsj.com/article_email/apple-loses-federal-appeal-in-e-books-case-1435673945-lMyQjAxMTA1MjM3MDUzNjA3Wj

Appeals court says Apple is liable for e-book price fixing | Ars Technica
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/06/appeals-court-says-apple-is-liable-for-e-book-price-fixing/

A trial over price manipulation of e-books was made in April 2012 as the Ministry of Justice issued "as Apple and the five major publications signed an agreement to raise the price of e-books", which was held in June 2013 In the first trial, a ruling was issued that "Apple price action is a violation of antitrust law (antitrust law)".

ByTaylor

The problem in the lawsuit was that Apple and the five major publications signed a contract called "agency model" that the publisher can freely determine the price of e-books to be sold at the iBooks Store. In the American publishing industry, it is customary to say "wholesale model" where retailers set prices. Originally, Amazon's Amazon, which released the e-book reader "Kindle" in 2007, has adopted the wholesale model and sells new books and bestseller works for $ 9.99 (about 1200 yen at that rate). The price of 9.99 dollars seemed rather cheap, and the American publishing industry had a big threat to Amazon.

With Apple's agreement model agreement with the publisher, the price of new books and best-selling works in the iBook Store is set at around $ 20 (about 2400 yen) from 12 dollars (about 1500 yen). As a result of this, the price of e-books that were on sale by Amazon by a publisher contracted with Apple was raised from $ 9.99 to 12.99 dollars (about 1600 yen) to 14.99 dollars (about 1800 yen) To that. The Justice Department who sees heavily the price fluctuation caused the complaint in April 2012 as "whether the actions of Apple and publisher correspond to price manipulation and not antitrust law violation".

The five companies that signed an agency model agreement with Apple agreed with the Justice Department but Apple made the first trial with the Department of Justice as "not performing price operation" and as mentioned above " "We conducted a price operation on the price of e-books," a ruling was given. Later, Apple will appeal to the Justice Department against the first instance and appeal to the appellate court. .


However, in the appeal trial conducted on June 30, 2015, a ruling in favor of the first instance was issued, and Apple lost after the first trial. After 2012, when the Justice Department appealed Apple, 33 states in the United States on behalf of consumers said that they violated antitrust lawJudgment seeking compensationAnd Apple has agreed to pay 450 million dollars (about 55 billion yen) in the case that Apple 's defeat in this appeal trial. In other words, Apple has paid $ 450 million after this losing.

Although Ars Technica is seeking comments from Apple regarding the ruling of the appeal trial, I have not received comments from Apple at the time of writing the article.