6 Amazon vs. Apple (featuring the U.S. Department of Justice)
Back in 2013, Amazon brought a civil anti-trust lawsuit against Apple and a myriad of e-book publishers, including Penguin and HarperCollins, claiming that the iBooks publisher “conspired to inflate” the price of digital e-books (iBooks) in order to “weaken Amazon’s grip on the market.”
“Apple chose to join forces with the publisher defendants to raise e-book prices and equipped them with the means to do so,” the court’s decision reads, adding that “Without Apple’s orchestration of this conspiracy, it would not have succeeded as it did.”
Interestingly, while the publishers named in court documents ultimately reached out-of-court settlements with the U.S Department of Justice (DOJ) — who intervened in the highly-publicized case — Apple continued to fight the charges, appealing them multiple times until a District Court judge confirmed the DOJ’s decision to levy a whopping $450 million fine against it in 2014.
Fortunately, those who purchased eligible Kindle e-books between April, 2010 and May, 2012 have likely received their refund, as determined by the case, already — but if you think you qualify and have not received a refund yet, feel free to check if you’re eligible on Amazon’s website anytime until April 20, 2018.