Apple has agreed to pay a $450 million settlement to 33 U.S. states and consumers who accused the company of conspiring with publishers in an e-book price fixing scheme.
The payment, which will be divided between consumers ($400 million) and legal and state fees ($50 million), comes a month after Apple settled an $840 million civil case related to the e-book pricing complaint. In the civil suit, plaintiffs said that the company made $280 million by overcharging customers. The details of that settlement have yet to be disclosed.
The company was expected to face trial in a Manhattan court later this month. The antitrust portion of the lawsuit, which involved an $840 million claim for damages, was initially filed by the Department of Justice and a group of state attorney generals in April 2012. Five publishing companies were also named in the complaint. The publishers include Simon & Schuster, Harper Collins Publishers, Hachette Book Group, Penguin Group and Macmillan.
The payment is still not guaranteed. Apple said that it will continue its appeal, and that may result in the settlement being reduced or eliminated entirely. According to the terms of the deal, if the US Circuit Court of Appeals in New York rules in favor of the company, the payment may be cut down to $70 million. Of the total, $50 million would be allocated to consumers. If Apple gets a favorable verdict, there is also the possibility that it would not have to pay anything.
Last September, New York District Court Judge Denise Cote imposed restrictions on the company to prevent it from influencing the pricing of e-books. In the decision, Apple was prohibited from entering into special agreements with publishers called "most favored nation" clauses. The company was said to have used such deals to influence pricing between competing publishers. It was also barred from signing agreement with the publishing companies named in the case for the next two to four years.
In spite of the settlement, Apple maintains its innocence, saying that it will continue to dispute the allegations during the appeals process. "Apple did not conspire to fix e-book pricing, and we will continue to fight those allegations on appeal. We did nothing wrong and we believe a fair assessment of the facts will show it," the company said in a statement.
