Steve Berman, lead counsel in Apple eBook antitrust class-action, issues statement on U.S. DOJ action

14 years ago

Statement by Steve W. Berman, Hagens Berman.

We are pleased that the U.S. Justice Department and Attorney General Holder agreed with our analysis that Apple and some of the nation’s largest publishers engaged in anticompetitive practices.

We’ve long held that Apple and this group of book publishers formed a cabal with the sole intent of extinguishing any competitive influences in the e-book marketplace.

While Attorney General Holder’s actions, if successful, will put an end to the anticompetitive actions, our class-action is designed to pry the ill-gotten profits from Apple and the publishers and return them to consumers.

One of the main engines of our economy today is technological innovation, including devices such as the iPad and Kindle. Any company – or conspiracy of companies – trying to illegally limit the benefit of these technologies is guilty of more than anticompetitive behavior. They are guilty of stanching future innovation in the marketplace.

We are eager to move forward with our civil action against Apple and the publishers, and to show the court and the public the depth and breadth of the conspiracy they concocted at the expense of consumers.

Steve Berman, managing partner of Seattle-based Hagens Berman, filed a civil class-action complaint on Aug. 9, 2011, alleging that Apple conspired with the nation’s largest publishers to fix the price of e-books. The lawsuit seeks damages for the purchase of e-books, an injunction against pricing e-books with the agency model and forfeiture of the illegal profits received by the defendants as a result of their anticompetitive conduct which could total tens of millions of dollars. Berman was subsequently named lead counsel of the consolidated case, unifying a number of similar actions filed across the country.

Source: Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP

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