Apple, armed only with its reality distortion field and faith in its patron saint Steve Jobs insisted that it had done nothing wrong. In fact its managers did all they could to prevent a court imposing remedies or monitoring of its antics.
However a federal appeals court upheld a judge's ruling that Apple was guilty of conspiracy.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed that the conspiracy violated federal antitrust law, and that the judge acted properly two years ago in imposing an injunction to prevent a recurrence.
Apple will be forced to pay consumers $450 million to the consumers it cheated. Of course it might have a crack at another apple.
Even after the ruling Apple was still insisting that it had done nothing wrong at would probably appal this ruling too,
"While we want to put this behind us, the case is about principles and values," Apple said in a statement. "We know we did nothing wrong back in 2010 and are assessing next steps."
Circuit Judge Debra Ann Livingston said Apple's actions "unreasonably restrained trade," rejecting arguments that the company acted independently with its own business interests in mind.
"The district court did not err in concluding that Apple was more than an innocent bystander," Livingston wrote.
Assistant Attorney General Bill Baer welcomed the ruling, which he said "confirms that it is unlawful for a company to knowingly participate in a price-fixing conspiracy, whatever its specific role in the conspiracy or reason for joining it."
The appeal followed a July 2013 decision by U.S. District Judge Denise Cote in Manhattan that Apple played a "central role" in a conspiracy with publishers to eliminate retail price competition and raise e-book prices.
The Justice Department, which secured the ruling following a non-jury trial, said the scheme caused some e-book prices to rise to $12.99 or $14.99 from the $9.99 price charged by market leader Amazon.
The publishers that the Justice Department said conspired with Apple include Lagardere. Hachette Book, HarperCollins, Penguin Group, Simon & Schuster and Verlagsgruppe and Macmillan. All the publishers fessed up long ago and paid a fine.
