Apple wants one more stab at clearing its name of vitamin E - record antitrust violations .
Having lost a federal court entreaty earlier this year , Apple will require the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a ruling that the company conspired with publishing house to fix vitamin E - rule book prices , Fortune reports .
Applelost its original casein paint 2013 , after being sued by the U.S. Department of Justice along with 33 states and U.S. territories . At the clock time , U.S. District Court Judge Denise Cote found that Apple broke the law when it convert five major publishers to adopt the same “ agency ” pricing model , in which they set up their own Price and agreed not to propose grim price elsewhere . This had the upshot of raising some monetary value at rival e - rule book vender Amazon , as publishing house abandoned the “ wholesale ” model that let Amazon ready e - book rate on its own .
In the past times , Apple has argued that it was making the market more competitive by weakening Amazon ’s grip . The company reiterated that rationale in anote to the Supreme Court , saying “ disruptive ledger entry into novel or stagnant markets ” require the case of conduct Apple occupy in . ( The actual legal parameter seems somewhat technical , making the case that Apple did n’t occupy in “ horizontal ” price fixing , and therefore must be try on the competitive effects of its behavior . )
Apple has n’t technically submitted its formal request with the High Court yet , but has ask for a 30 - day extension to do so . As Fortune points out , the extension request outlines much of Apple ’s line for essay the Supreme Court ’s followup . Of course , the court of law can still deny Apple ’s request to have its case heard at all .
Why this matters : The pecuniary wager in this guinea pig are fairly low for a vast company like Apple , with the company agreeing to pay out $ 450 million if it exhausts all its appeal options . But Apple has said previously that the case is “ about principles and values , ” and it ’s potential that the ruling is have mystifying ramifications . As report earlier this year , Apple may have try convincing phonograph recording recording label tokill the free version of Spotifyto assistance pave the way for Apple Music . While Spotify ’s free version still exists , Apple is now facing new antitrust inquiry from several land lawyer worldwide .
