Sherman Anti Trust Law and Apple
What is the Sherman Anti Trust Law?
US history books tell that Senator John Sherman, an Ohio Republican, was the main author of the Sherman Anti Trust Act of 1890. Originally, Robber Barons of oil, steel, banking and railroads created “trusts.” These trusts were similar to today’s “cartels” where wealthy principals use hostile buyouts of companies to form “trusts.”
The Sherman Anti Trust Act’s chief aim was to destroy monopolies by outlawing every business contract or combination, or conspiracy in “restraint of trade.” The Sherman Anti Trust Act was supposed to expose the evils of big business and to control big business in the public interest. In 1914, The Federal Trade Commission Act created a five-man Federal Trade Commission whose primary duties were to prevent unfair methods of competition in trade and business that included:
- Miss branding and adulterating goods
- False and misleading advertising
- Spying and bribery to secure trade secrets
- Closely imitating competitors’ products
Court Decides Apple is in Violation of Sherman Anti Trust Law
The circumstances surrounding court decision that Apple is in violation of Sherman Anti Trust Law are based on the Supreme Court case, the United States of America v. Apple Inc., et al., 12 Civ. 2862 (DLC). The court upheld the violation that Apple and five book publishing companies had conspired to increase the prices on e-books. The lawsuit was filed April 2012. The five co-conspirator publishers with Apple were: Harper Collins Publishers, Penguin Group, Inc. Simon & Schuster, Inc. Hachette Book Group, Inc. and Macmillan Publishers.
According to US Court records, these publishers sold these books from $9.99 to $14.99 as recommended in a meeting with the five publishers and Eddy Cue, Sr. VP of Apple’s Internet Software and Services for which Apple would receive a 30% commission. When Amazon.com discovered this Apple agreement with these publishers, it tried to discourage authors from selling their books directly to online buyers. Amazon later sent another letter to the US Federal Trade Commission regarding the agreements between Apple and the five publishers.
As the case proceeded, the court determined that the Sherman Anti Trust Act had been violated as a result of Apple creating an agreement that created unfair competition due to publishers withholding books from Amazon and fixing the prices to appear equal to that of the prices Amazon was selling their e-books.
The entire premise of the Apple and five publishers’ agreement was based on a mutual adoption of an agency “model.” Amazon hadn’t adopted the agency modeling allowing the publishers to withhold e-books from sale on Amazon. This is where the crux of the violation of the Sherman Anti Trust Act lies. By disallowing Amazon to sell the publishers’ e-books, this created unfair methods of competition in trade and business for related e-book sellers.
The Verdict by the Court
The court uncovered considerable evidence that clearly showed that Apple and five publishers had, as a result of their meeting with Eddy Cue, joined together in “a horizontal price-fixing conspiracy.”
Evidence also showed that “Apple violated Section 1 of the Sherman Act by conspiring with the Publishers to eliminate retail price competition and raise the price of e-books.” The court concluded through evidence that “Apple was a knowing and active member of the conspiracy, proving by the Plaintiff, “a per se violation of the Sherman Act.”
