US: Authors ask Supreme Court to overturn e-book ruling against Apple

A group of authors and booksellers are standing by Apple in its decision to ask the US Supreme Court to overturn a ruling stating that Apple conspired to fix eBook prices when it launched its iBook store way back in January 2010.

The Authors Guild, Authors United, the American Booksellers Association, and Barnes & Noble have all banded together to file an “amicus brief” in the United States, arguing that the belief that Apple was taking place in “anti-competitive activities” was “misplaced.”

Instead of focusing on Apple, the group claims that the Department of Justice should instead apply its antitrust investigations to Amazon.

“We fundamentally question the wisdom of the Second Circuit’s use of antitrust law to punish a business arrangement that demonstrably increased competition in the e-book marketplace,” said Mary Rasenberger, executive director of the Authors Guild in New York. “Freedom and diversity of expression inevitably wither in a book market heavily controlled by a single player.”

Full content: Apple Insider

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