The federal government said this arrangement pushed Amazon into a similar model and resulted in prices of e-books from the five publishers increasing by 18 percent.

However Apple is planning to appeal Cote’s decision. “Apple did not conspire to fix e-book pricing,” spokesman Tom Neumayr said.  “When we introduced the iBookstore in 2010, we gave customers more choice, injecting much needed innovation and competition into the market, breaking Amazon’s monopolistic grip on the publishing industry. We’ve done nothing wrong.”

Last year, Apple faced similar anti-trust case with Europe Commission. While the publishing companies agreed to pay more than $166 million combined to benefit consumers, Apple went to a trial. However Apple too ended up in settling the case without admitting to the wrongdoing.  

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