Apple’s E-Book Punishment Court Order Is Final, and Not as Bad as Apple Feared
Here’s the last word, for now, on the punishment Apple will receive after losing its e-book price-fixing trial: It’s not as bad as Apple first feared, but Apple still isn’t happy.
You can see the order from U.S. District Court Denise Cote embedded at the bottom of this post. If you’ve been following this story — my colleague John Paczkowski has been providing excellent coverage — then you’ll know what to expect: A set of remedies that limit Apple’s ability to control pricing of its e-books in general, and have specific rules about the ways it can deal with individual publishers.
But Cote’s order is also significantly milder than what the DOJ was originally asking for. Gone, for instance, are broad new rules about the way Apple can run its iTunes store. And while the court is still going to appoint an “external compliance monitor” to keep an eye on Apple, that person is going to have much less power than the DOJ had asked for.
This still does not satisfy Apple. “Apple did not conspire to fix ebook pricing. The iBookstore gave customers more choice and injected much needed innovation and competition into the market,” says spokesman Tom Neumayr, via email. “Apple will pursue an appeal of the injunction.”
PREVIOUSLY:
- Apple Doesn’t Want to Pay the Feds’ E-Book Lawyer $70,000 a Week
- Apple Files Expected Appeal of E-Book Injunction
- Apple’s E-Book Punishment Court Order is Final, and Not as Bad as Apple Feared
- The Incredible Shrinking Apple E-Book Remedy
- Apple Says DOJ’s E-Book Remedies Are Biased in Amazon’s Favor
- DOJ Softens Proposed Apple Ebook Injunctions, Slightly
- Apple Slams Feds’ Proposed E-Book Remedies as a “Draconian and Punitive Intrusion”
- Apple’s Chances for an E-Book Ruling Appeal Are Lousy, Say Legal Scholars
- Apple E-Books Ruling Won’t Do Much For Consumers
- Apple Loses E-Book Antitrust Trial
- Here’s Apple’s Closing Slide Deck in E-Book Case, and the DOJ’s, Too
- Apple: It’s Time to Close the Book on DOJ’s E-Book Case
- Steve Jobs, Winnie the Pooh and the iBook Launch
- The Apple iBooks Origin Story
- Apple’s Cue Says Publishers Pushed for Higher E-Book Prices
- DOJ Misfires on Jobs Email in Apple E-Book Case — It Was a Discarded Draft
- Is Steve Jobs Message a Smoking Gun in Apple E-Book Case?
- Amazon Demanded Same Terms From Publishers For Which Apple is Now On Trial
- Apple Says Differences in Publisher Deals Belie E-Book Conspiracy Charges
- Apple Accuses DOJ of Unfairly Twisting Steve Jobs’s Words
- Apple Says DOJ Is Trying to “Reverse Engineer a Conspiracy” in E-Books Case
- Here’s the DOJ’s E-Book-Pricing Case Against Apple (Slide Deck)
- Apple CEO Tim Cook: “The E-Book Case to Me Is Bizarre”
- Judge in E-Book Pricing Case Thinks Apple’s Going Down; Apple Begs to Differ
- Here’s That Steve Jobs E-Book Email to James Murdoch
- Apple’s E-Book Argument: Deals With Publishers Improved Competition
- DOJ Filing Calls Apple “Ringmaster” of E-Book Pricing Rise
- Apple Alone Fighting DOJ E-Book Suit After Macmillan Settlement
- Apple’s Cook Must Testify in E-Book Antitrust Suit
