Apple Will Appeal To SCOTUS In E-Book Case

Apple will ask the Supreme Court to review a 2013 antitrust ruling that found the tech giant had broken the law by striking a pricing deal with five major publishing companies when it entered the e-book market in 2010. When Apple was preparing to launch the iPad and iBookstore, Apple and the publishing companies agreed to an “agency model” of pricing, in which the publishers could determine e-book prices. That agreement was made to counter Amazon.com’s pricing structure, which sells all e-books at $9.99, taking a loss. Amazon began to raise its prices soon after Apple’s agency model put certain books at $14.99 or higher. In 2013, a federal district court ruled 2-1 that Apple had violated the law, and earlier this year the Second Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Apple’s appeal. Now Apple is planning to put the case before the Supreme Court. “This case presents issues of surpassing importance to the United States economy,” said Seth Waxman, the lawyer representing Apple and former solicitor general under President Bill Clinton. “Dynamic, disruptive entry into new or stagnant markets – the lifeblood of American economic growth – often requires the very type of vertical contracting and conduct that the Second Circuit’s rule … condemn[s].”