Quote:
Originally Posted by pwalker8
Those prices were going up regardless, Apple is simply a convenient villain.
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Whether or not that would have proved to be true, it's completely irrelevant. As you seem to admit here, the Big 5 prices did go up as a consequence of the actions taken in concert with Apple.
The chart that shows this so clearly is, I think, the most convincing evidence in the case, and displays the facts that will provide the biggest obstacle to a successful appeal.
Apple must argue successfully that there was no collusion behind this concerted rise, but the timing of the meetings and emails Eddy Cue had with the publishers make that very hard to believe.
At best, Apple can argue that the timing was coincidental as it related to the launch of the iPad, but that doesn't stop it being collusion to act in concert. In fact it's an admission that Apple was organising the publishers to move to Agency Pricing and the MFN clause in concert.
Graham