Today, a divided federal appeals court announced that Apple did indeed orchestrate a conspiracy with five book publishers in order to raise e-book prices. In a 2-1 vote, the justices upheld a lower court decision, saying that the judge acted properly. The ruling, according to a report by The Globe and Mail, said “Apple found an easy path to opening its iBookstore” while at the same time, making sure that prices went up to a level that Apple and the other conspirators wanted.
Apple will have to pay $450 million as part of the related settlement, which had been put on hold during the appeals process. One of the judges who dissented said he would have reversed the 2013 ruling, finding that Apple was pro-competitive as it took on Amazon, which held a monopoly on the e-book market at the time.
