Apple to start paying $400 mn to customers from today in ebook price-fixing settlement

Apple will start paying $400 million from today to customers, who had purchased books from Amazon, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, and Apple.

The payouts stems from a guilty verdict in a case of anti-competitive behaviour over ebook pricing and price-fixing.

Apple fought the ruling for three years, but earlier this year the Supreme Court declined to hear the company's appeal; Apple will now pay $450 million to affected customers. In a press release yesterday, law firm Hagens Berman revealed that payouts would begin to be sent to affected customers from today, 21 June.

It said $400 million would be handed out to customers who purchased books from Amazon, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, and Apple. Payments would either be sent to customers' iTunes accounts or a check would be mailed, depending on customer preference expressed in a survey conducted an earlier.

Customers would receive $6.93 for every ebook that was a New York Times bestseller and $1.57 for every other ebook. The ebooks should have been bought between 1 April 2010 and 21 May 2012 and from one of the following publishers - Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins Publishers, Macmillan (Holtzbrinck Publishers), Penguin Group and Simon & Schuster.

Of the balance $50 million Apple would pay $20 million to the states and $30 million in legal fees.

The US government first brought a lawsuit over the company's "agency model" e-book price structure. Investigation of the issue revealed a "most favoured nations" basis restricted content owners to sell their wares to another retailer for a lower price, a system which ran counter to the "wholesale model" preferred by industry leader Amazon.

Apple was found guilty of colluding with publishers to artificially increase the price of e-books sold through the iBookstore, but appealed to the Supreme Court.

After the Supreme Court rejected the appeal, Apple agreed to settle a related class-action lawsuit that sought redress over questionable business practices.

The terms of the final settlement have been agreed by Apple, lawyers representing general consumers and state attorneys general representing citizens in 33 US states and territories.