Some Michigan e-readers may be seeing account credits or checks after an Apple, Inc. settlement regarding a 2012 e-book price fixing lawsuit. The total payments for Michigan could be as much as $10.1 million.
On Tuesday, Attorney General Bill Schuette announced the settlement with Apple. The 2012 antitrust lawsuit brought against Apple, and five of the largest e-book publishers, allege that Apple conspired with the book publishers to increase the retail price of e-books. This increase was for the New York Times Best Sellers to increase from $9.99 to $12.99 to $14.99, with a lesser increase for other e-books.
“One of the great things about this country is that consumers are entitled to a fair, open and competitive marketplace,” Schuette said in a release. “When a company is found to have violated antitrust laws, as Apple did here, consumers who have suffered as a consequence of that violation are entitled to compensation. As Attorney General it is my job to ensure that those laws are enforced.”
In the release, it states that Michigan consumers will receive an account credit or check based on the number of eligible e-books purchased by the consumer during the period of April 1, 2010 to May 21, 2012. Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Kobo customers will receive an email from the retailer notifying them of an account credit, unless a check was requested by an October 31, 2014 deadline.
Apple customers will receive an email from a third party settlement administrator notify of a deposit of a credit to their account. Eligible Sony customers will automatically receive a check, and eligible Google customers will receive a check if they filed a claim by the earlier deadline.
General refund amount will equal $6.93 per New York Times bestseller e-books, and $1.57 for other e-books bought in the time-period.
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