Indiana joins multistate Apple e-book price-fixing settlement

  • Print

Indiana consumers who purchased e-books at an artificially inflated price will share in a $400 million settlement with computer giant Apple Inc., Attorney General Greg Zoeller announced Friday.

More than 350,000 Hoosiers who purchased e-books between 2010 and 2012 will receive as much as $6.5 million under terms of a proposed settlement to a federal lawsuit against Apple pending in 2nd District Court of Appeals in New York. Indiana joined 32 other states and territories agreeing to the proposed settlement of a complaint that Apple conspired with publishers to fix prices of e-books.

“This settlement, combined with previous publisher settlements, will not only reimburse consumers for some of their losses, but send a strong signal that price-fixing in any industry will result in enforcement consequences,” Zoeller said.

Earlier this year, Indiana was one of 33 states that joined a $166 million settlement of a  similar e-book price-fixing claim. About 370,000 eligible Indiana consumers shared $2.6 million in the resolution of a suit that named Penguin Group (USA), Inc. (now part of Penguin Random House); Holtzbrinck Publishers LLC d/b/a Macmillan; Hachette Book Group Inc.; HarperCollins Publishers LLC; and Simon & Schuster Inc.

Please enable JavaScript to view this content.

{{ articles_remaining }}
Free {{ article_text }} Remaining
{{ articles_remaining }}
Free {{ article_text }} Remaining Article limit resets on
{{ count_down }}