Thread: Apple gripes about antitrust monitoring
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Old 12-12-2013, 09:07 PM   #98
pwalker8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by fjtorres View Post
That is what MFN clauses do: they set a common minimum price.

In this case, the publishers, being the sellers of record, agreed not to sell ebooks any cheaper than at iBooks. Through the *combination* of Agency and MFN, Apple literally got to set Sony, Nook, and Kobo's prices. And the DOJ took exception to the combination, which is why they took pains to point out their beef was with this specific instance of Agency pricing, not the concept itself.

Agency+MFN = illegal price fixing.
5 Publishers coordinating through Apple to fix prices simultaneously = conspiracy.
Conspiracy + illegal price fixing = a world of antitrust hurt.

Fully documented.
Open and shut.

No matter how they try to muddy the waters or spin it, those facts are literally beyond legal dispute.
MFN clauses are both legal and reasonably common.

http://us.practicallaw.com/resource/8-382-3637

http://www.mintz.com/newsletter/2012...AFR/index.html

What Judge Cote has done is taken a previously legal act and declared it illegal, with no supporting changes in legislation. One of the primary functions of the notion of rule of law is that a person should have a reasonable expectation of knowing in advance if an action is legal or illegal.
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