Status: closed
Apple (e-books)
Defendant: Apple
The lawsuit alleges that five US publishers and Apple conspired to fix prices of e-books. Consumers may be eligible for partial refunds if they purchased e-books between April 1, 2010 and May 21, 2012 that were published by the following companies:
• Hachette Book Group, Inc. (“Hachette”);
• HarperCollins Publishers LLC (“HarperCollins”);
• Simon & Schuster, Inc. and Simon & Schuster Digital Sales, Inc. (“Simon & Schuster”);
• Holtzbrinck Publishers, LLC, known as Macmillan (“Macmillan”); and
• Penguin Group (USA) Inc. (“Penguin”).
Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Sony, and Google are providing notice and providing account credits voluntarily. None of these retailers have been sued in this case.
Consumers who purchased e-book through Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Nobles or Kobo will either automatically receive a credit to their accounts or choose to receive a check. The deadline to file an online check request is Oct. 31, 2014. Consumers who already filed a claim and received a check in the prior settlement do not need to file a claim form in the Apple Settlement.
Consumers who purchased e-book through Sony will receive a check automatically.
Consumers who purchased e-book through Google must file a claim by Oct. 31, 2014. Consumers who already filed a claim and received a check in the prior settlement do not need to file a claim form in the Apple Settlement.
The amount of the settlement depends on the outcome of Apple's appeal to the court.