On Wednesday, a court order said US District Judge Denise Cote scheduled a May 2014 trial for Apple to determine damages. Last month, Cote ruled that Apple infringed an antitrust law when it conspired with five major publishers to raise electronic books' prices. Cote said Apple played a "central role" in raising e-book prices to USD12.99 or USD14.99 from only USD9.99.
The federal judge was expected to decide whether the tech giant must pay damages. The compensation was also projected to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Cote would also consider making an injunctive relief to inhibit Apple from being involved in another price-fixing scheme.
Apple's deal with the publishers included a 30% commission for every book sold in its App store. It was also permitted to match the price of a rival if the rival's price was lower. During the second quarter, Apple earned USD4 billion from its online digital media store. Apple's iTunes sold apps, games, e-books, movies, songs and videos.
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