Apple has managed to settle the lawsuit filed by the US government against the company for fixing prices of eBooks in co-operation with five major publishers.
In 2012, the US Department of Justice had warned Apple and five publishers for illegally raising prices of various eBooks sold on its iBookstore. The involved parties tried to settle the anti-trust case before it reached the courts, but they did not succeed and the lawsuit was filed in April 2012.
Apple was quick to deny the charges and tried to justify their business model, where book publishers were allowed to set prices for eBooks in the iBookstore and Apple received a 30 percent amount on each one sold. Amazon, on the other hand, sold eBooks at a cheaper rate - which led Apple to conspire with the publishers and "raise, fix, and stabilize retail prices," according to US Attorney General Eric Holder.
Now, it has been revealed by Bloomberg, that Apple has reached a settlement with all US attorneys general and consumers, in the case which could have cost the company $840 million in damages. The terms of the agreement have not been made available to the public, but could be significantly lesser than the sought damages.
Source: Bloomberg | Image via Apple