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Apple Starts To Shell Out $400 Million To Customers In eBook Settlement (cnet.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Starting today, millions of e-book purchasers will get either credits or checks for twice their losses, said legal firm Hagens Berman, which helped litigate the class action lawsuit. CNET reports: "Apple is on the hook for $400 million in damages plus an additional $30 million to pay the legal fees for Hagens Berman and $20 million to the state attorney generals who became involved in the case. On an individual basis, each plaintiff in the suit will receive $1.57 in credit for most e-books they bought and a $6.93 credit for every e-book purchased that was on the New York Times bestseller list. Consumers who purchased e-books from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo and Apple between April 1, 2010 and May 21, 2012 are eligible to receive credits deposited directly in their accounts or checks sent through the mail. In August 2011, a lawsuit filed by two individuals accused Apple of conspiring to fix e-book prices with five publishers: Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins Publishers, Holtzbrinck Publishers, Penguin Group and Simon and Schuster. The DoJ and the attorneys general of several states joined in with their own suits against the publishers. The lawsuits charged that the actions of Apple and the publishers prevented other e-book sellers from competing on price, thereby increasing the prices that consumers had to pay for e-books. After being found guilty of violating antitrust laws by a U.S. District Judge in 2013 and by an Appeals court in 2015, Apple's request for an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court was denied this past March, forcing it to settle with the plaintiffs."
Poor Apple whatever will they do. The downward spiral is beginning. They had the top of the market, screwing everyone over left n right. Nice to see people winning against them. Down in flames!
Only lawyers win class action suits.
On an individual basis, each plaintiff in the suit will receive $1.57 in credit for most e-books they bought and a $6.93 credit for every e-book purchased that was on the New York Times bestseller list.
So clearly, one best seller and three less well received e-books.
It's like when the cell carrier gives settlements for unethical 3rd party billing; except for the attorneys' cuts, it's pretty much all feed for chickens.
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
Ernest Hemingway
This is the first time I have been part of a class action class and actually gotten anything. Oh, a few times I got "a coupon for $10 off our next widget" or the like. This time I got just over $9.00 posted to Amazon so I can buy a book I guess. Wow, who'd have guessed? I would have thought a 10% off on your next iShiny or something like that that I would never use...
$36.49 for me, didn't even realize I bought that many e-books. Got an email from Amazon, in my junk mail of course.
Fuck Apple.
Guess they finally checked the couch
I must have purchased two ebooks at some point because I got $3.14. w00t!!!!!
Next time someone asks you to join in a "class action" lawsuit, remember:
People who got scammed by Scamazon, Scapple, Scachete, etc., might get up to 10 or 15 bucks worth of gift certificates only good for buying shit from a company that by now, they could easily not even want to do business with anymore.
The goddamned fucking parasite lawyers got like 20 million bucks.
The Bard was right, and it's time we seriously consider his advice.
Long time coming. About time someone paid out for manipulating a market. Nice little credit to my Amazon account, guess it will buy me??? still looking.
I noticed immediately years ago when new releases on Amazon had a price increase from $7.99 to $9-12 each. At that point, I switched to mostly purchasing $3 indie novels and lately to reading mostly from the Kindle Unlimited plan. Still, somehow, the cost must have added up as Amazon emailed me about a $300 credit yesterday. First class action settlement in awhile that has been worthwhile to be a beneficiary. Most of the time the policies or legal fees make it a good deal for the Lawyers and not anyone else...
. . . as, for my sins, I originally bought a Nook.
Their ebook settlement guidebook suggests you won't know your balance from the settlement UNTIL you make a purchase. . .
Nice. . .
Phew, lucky the DoJ is on the ball to ensure we have a vibrant, cutting-edge eBook market with an even playing field. Otherwise we'd have ended up with stagnating technologies that barely seem to advance from year to year due to the lack of competition. /s
I used it on "A Love Supreme" by John Coltrane.
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I think I spend too much time reading e-books.....