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Apple will ask the Supreme Court to hear its ebooks antitrust case

Apple will ask the Supreme Court to hear its ebooks antitrust case

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Apple appears ready to appeal its long-running ebooks antitrust case to the Supreme Court. In a filing from Wednesday, the company asked for a 30-day extension before filing its petition for a writ of certiorari, a request that the court hear the case.

Apple will have until October 28th to send its request

The request will be the latest turn in a case that's now spanned years. In 2013, Apple was found guilty of conspiring to fix the price of ebooks as a way of competing with Amazon. The Department of Justice alleged that the company had organized a scheme with major book publishers to coordinate favorable pricing. The judge on the case ultimately agreed, saying the evidence demonstrated "a clear portrait of a conscious commitment to cross a line and engage in illegal behavior." Apple appealed the case, but ultimately lost there as well.

It was unclear if the company would seek a review by the Supreme Court — it was already set to pay $450 million and will do so if the Supreme Court declines to hear the case or does not find in Apple's favor. If the court does hear the case, Apple, as explained in yesterday's filing, will argue that its actions were not anticompetitive. "This question is exceedingly important to the United States economy as it concerns the rules that will govern disruptive entry by dynamic companies into new or stagnant markets," Apple writes.

Assuming Apple receives the time extension, it will have until October 28th to file its full request to the court, which will then decide whether to hear the case.