Apple has reached an out-of-court settlement with plaintiffs seeking compensation for an alleged e-book price-fixing scheme, according to a Monday court filing.
Apple will pay an undisclosed sum to customers who accuse the company of driving up e-book prices by allegedly striking a deal to fix prices with five major U.S. book publishers.
The class-action lawsuit, representing customers in 33 states, claimed that Apple had overcharged its plaintiffs by $280 million and sought triple that amount in damages, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The settlement comes one year after a Manhattan court ruled in a related anti-trust case that Apple was guilty of price-fixing. Apple has appealed the ruling, maintaining that it was innocent of any wrongdoing as the case triggered two separate class-action lawsuits. Monday’s settlement payment is contingent on the ruling of the appeals court.
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