The US Justice Department is pressing for the appointment of an anti-trust monitor to supervise Apple store as part of the remedy for the company’s conviction for illegally fixing the price of e-books.

“The court found that Apple’s illegal conduct deprived consumers of the benefits of e-book price competition and forced them to pay substantially higher prices,” Bill Baer, assistant attorney general for the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division, said in a statement Friday.

“Under the department’s proposed order, Apple’s illegal conduct will cease and Apple and its senior executives will be prevented from conspiring to thwart competition in the future.” The proposal, which was backed by the attorneys general from 33 states, also called for the cancellation of Apple’s agreements with the five major book publishers in the US.

Apple would also be “prohibited from entering into agreements with suppliers of e-books, music, movies, television shows or other content that are likely to increase the prices at which Apple’s competitor retailers may sell that content,” the statement said.

The proposals follow a July ruling that Apple conspired with major US publishers to illegally raised the price of electronic books.

The anti-trust case was brought by the US Department of Justice which alleged that the company’s late CEO Steve Jobs reached agreements with five of the top six US publishers before Apple introduced the iPad in 2010 in order to sabotage Amazon, which had dominated the e-book market by selling most titles for $ 9.99.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW