From Fortune:
http://fortune.com/2015/06/30/apple-court-books/
THESIS: Poor, innocent Apple made the mistake of throwing in with a bunch of vile oligarchs.
Quote:
In other words, instead of being able to piggy-back on the market position of its publishing partners in order to gain entry into this new market, Apple hitched its e-book wagon to an industry that was already actively engaged in collusion over prices—and desperately trying to resist the future. And ultimately it was the giant electronics company that got crushed under the wheels of that wagon.
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Unfortunately, the evidence presented reads more like "birds of a feather, flock together... and make an easier target".
Quote:
But the appeals court disagreed:
“Aikido move or not, the attractiveness of Apple’s offer to the Publisher Defendants hinged on whether it could successfully help organize them to force Amazon to an agency model and then to use their newfound collective control to raise ebook prices. The Supreme Court has defined an agreement for Sherman Act Section 1 purposes as ‘a conscious commitment to a common scheme designed to achieve an unlawful objective.’ Plainly, this use of the promise of higher prices as a bargaining chip to induce the Publisher Defendants to participate in the iBookstore constituted a conscious commitment to the goal of raising ebook prices.”
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More at the source. Some nice, concise quotes.
Obviously, the appeals court followed Cote's example and write an appeals-proof ruling.
(Of course, if there are enough Mac users on the SCOTUS...)
It nails the Manhattan Syndicate for what it is but... Apple as a wide-eyed innocent doesn't fit the public record.