In a filing with the United States district court for southern New York, Apple claims the Department of Justice has its story all wrong. The Justice Department filed an antitrust suit against Apple and multiple book publishers earlier this week alleging that the group colluded to fix the prices of electronic books. In a recently released document filed with the court on Wednesday, Apple’s counsel addressed the charges by claiming the DOJ has its story backwards — Apple wasn’t working with publishers to fix eBook prices, it was breaking Amazon’s “monopolistic grip” on the eBook market and the publishing industry. Read on for more.
“The DOJ’s accusation of collusion against Apple is simply not true,” Apple stated in its filing, according to Fortune. The document continued, “The launch of the iBookstore in 2010 fostered innovation and competition, breaking Amazon’s monopolistic grip on the publishing industry.”
The company goes on to state that the iBookstore and Apple’s iBooks product have done a huge service for the electronic book industry rather than harm it. Amazon had a 90% share of the eBook market when Apple entered the space, but the retail giant’s share has reportedly dropped to as low as 60% since Apple launched the iBookstore in 2010.
“Since then customers have benefited from eBooks that are more interactive and engaging,” Apple said, proceeding to place the blame for any possible wrongdoing squarely on the shoulders of book publishers. “Just as we’ve allowed developers to set prices on the App Store, publishers set prices on the iBookstore.”
