[Swordmaker]

U.S. Supreme Court rejects Apple appeal over $450 million e-book case. This is probably an early result of the death of Justice Scalia, since he was the author of the majority opinion that Apple was relying on in its appeal that set the guidelines about vertical v. horizontal competition. Had Scalia still been alive, it is likely that the case would have been accepted for review. Without him, the review votes were overwhelmed by the Liberals. — PING!

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Apple Loses eBooks AntiTrust Appeal
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[TexasGator]

“A federal judge in Manhattan found that Apple persuaded five of the biggest publishers to shift to a system under which they, and not the retailers, would set book prices.”

[McCarthysGhost]

The court seems to be in a flurry of activity ever since Scalia passed.

[BuckeyeTexan]

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[TheBattman]

This post is not meant as a pro-Apple (or any other company) post. I am serious in my question, as I have read all I can find and still don’t understand the ruling:

I understand Apple had a pretty ugly contract/agreement they expected publishers to sign (particularly independent publishers/individuals) if their material was to be carried by iBooks.

BUT - I’m trying to figure out how antitrust plays in - Apple didn’t force anyone to sign up with them. They laid pricing guidelines (as many other companies do in many differing categories of products) as part of the “deal” if you wanted to sell through them. 100% of those publishers had the right to not choose Apple’s iBooks format -

Further, as Apple said in their defense, eBook prices have fallen since Apple joined the fray, with or without the agreement/use policy in place. I don’t see how consumers were harmed (indeed, they benefit with competition).

IN other words - my question is: What, exactly did Apple do wrong (legally)? How did they harm consumers? Indeed, WHO was harmed- particularly to the tune of $450million?