Apple conspired with publishers to raise e-book prices, a US judge has ruled.
She said the evidence left no doubt that the company broke anti-competition laws.
US District Judge Denise Cote said Apple knew no publisher could risk acting alone to try to eliminate Amazon’s $9.99 price for the most popular e-books so it “created a mechanism and environment that enabled them to act together in a matter of weeks to eliminate all retail price competition for their e-books”.
She added: “The evidence is overwhelming that Apple knew of the unlawful aims of the conspiracy and joined the conspiracy with the specific intent to help it succeed.”
She said damages would be decided at a later hearing.
Apple said it plans to appeal in the case, which was brought by the US government.
“Apple did not conspire to fix e-book pricing and we will continue to fight against these false accusations,” a spokesman said. “We’ve done nothing wrong.”
Assistant attorney general Bill Baer called the ruling “a victory for millions of consumers who choose to read books electronically.”
He said the judge agreed with the Justice Department that executives at the highest levels of Apple orchestrated a conspiracy with five major publishers to raise prices.