Utahns to receive almost $4M from Apple e-book settlement


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SALT LAKE CITY — Utahns who purchased an electronic book between April 1, 2010, and May 21, 2012, could soon receive a check in the mail or a credit to their iTunes account.

After years of litigation, Apple has paid $400 million in nationwide consumer compensation for violating antitrust laws by conspiring with five publishers to raise the prices of e-books in an attempt to challenge Amazon.com. The Utah Attorney General’s Office reported that customers who were affected should start receiving money Tuesday.

"Utah consumers deserve a refund of every possible dollar when they have been treated unfairly by businesses,” Attorney General Sean Reyes said in a statement. “After a long legal battle, and due to the very careful and committed work of our anti-trust team, this office has recovered nearly $4 million, which will be returned back to Utah consumers.”

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Utah was one of 33 states that joined the U.S. Department of Justice in suing Apple in 2013. The case made it all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which in March upheld a lower court's ruling that Apple illegally conspired with five publishers: Penguin Group, Holtzbrinck Publishers LLC doing business as Macmillan, Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins Publishers LLC, and Simon & Schuster Inc.

Of the $400 million from Apple, Utah consumers are expected to receive $3,915,300 in payments, according to the Utah Attorney General’s Office. Officials reported that customers who bought an electronic version of a New York Times bestseller will receive $6.93, while the payment for any other type of book is $1.57.

Utahns were responsible for .93 percent of all e-books purchased during the period connected to the lawsuit.

Anyone with questions about the settlements can visit ebooklawsuits.com or call 866-686-9333.


Contact the author at ncrofts@ksl.com or find her on Twitter.

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