Government says Apple conspiracy raised prices

Apple and major publishers conspired in a scheme to fix prices on e-books, costing consumers hundreds of millions of dollars, a U.S. Justice Department attorney argued during the first day of a marquee antitrust trial.

In April 2010, when Apple launched its online bookstore, prices jumped 50%, Justice Department lawyer Lawrence Buterman said during his opening statement for the government. "This dramatic price increase was no accident," Buterman said. "Apple knowingly and actively participated in a scheme to raise e-book prices." Apple's attorney, however, launched into a vigorous defense, saying the government was drawing "sinister inferences" from out-of-context, misquoted e-mail excerpts. Orin Snyder, said Apple merely helped bring innovation to a broken e-book market, and engaged in no conspiracy to fix prices. Consumers ultimately benefited, he said.