[JURIST] Apple [corporate website] asked [cert. petition, PDF] the US Supreme Court [official website] on Thursday to review and overturn an appeals court ruling that the company conspired with book publishers to increase e-book prices. The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit had ruled [opinion, PDF] in June that Apple violated the Sherman Antitrust Act [text] when it entered into deals with five major book publishers for the iBookstore. If the Second Circuit’s decision is upheld, Apple will have to pay $450 million dollars to consumers [Reuters report] based on a contingent settlement [JURIST report] agreed upon in 2014. Throughout the entire legal process, Apple has claimed that it is innocent and committed no wrongdoing.

The world’s largest technology companies have faced antitrust charges in the US and internationally in recent months. In May the European Commission opened an investigation [JURIST report] into potential antitrust violations in the e-commerce market with the scope of the investigation including a number of the world’s largest technology and search companies. In April the European Commission initiated antitrust proceedings against Google [JURIST report] accusing the company of utilizing its dominant position in the search engine market to hurt competitors. In February a judge for the Northern District of California dismissed a class action suit against Google [JURIST report] for allegedly monopolizing search engines in Android phones. Last year a judge for the US District Court for the Northern District of California approved a settlement between federal antitrust authorities and eBay [JURIST report] over allegations that eBay agreed to not to selectively recruit and hire employees from rival companies.