FX.co ★ U.S. judge approves Apple Inc. $450mln e-book fine

The U.S judicial authorities gave final approval to Apple Inc. to pay $450 million. Investigators managed to prove that the technology giant conspired with five U.S. publishing companies in 2009. The aim of this cooperation was an artificial raise of e-book prices. The biggest publishers like Hachette Book group, HarperCollins Publishers, Penguin Group, Simon&Schuster and Macmillan were among the defendants in that case. In April 2012, they were charged by the U.S. Department of Justice. The Manhattan Court calls for Apple to pay $400 million to 23 million of consumers and $50 million - to the lawyers that represented the victim's side. It's known that iPad tablet has a function for e-book reading. As per the case materials, manufacturers and publishers agreed in advance to determine the price of e-book downloading according to their interests. The price of electronic edition for users was higher to an average of 2-3 U.S. dollars. An impressive amount is obtained, if you count the amount of downloads. Originally, the Government prosecutors were seeking up to $840 million, but Apple decided to cooperate with the investigation and amount of compensation was reduced. As for the publishers, they had to fork out - to pay a fine total of $166 million, agreed for book fraud.