The US Supreme Court [official website] on Monday declined [order, PDF] to review a lower court ruling finding Apple [corporate website] conspired with book publishers to increase e-book prices. Monday’s order, issued without comment, means that Apple is now responsible for the $450 million settlement [JURIST report] it reached in 2014. Apple said that it is prepared to distribute the settlement funds [NYT report], $400 million of which will go to consumers and $50 million of which will go to lawyers involved in the case.

Apple reached the $450 million settlement shortly after a federal judge found [JURIST report] that the company violated the Sherman Antitrust Act [text] when it entered into deals with five major book publishers for the iBookstore. The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld [opinion, PDF] that decision in June. In October Apple appealed that decision [JURIST report] to the Supreme Court. Throughout the entire legal process, Apple has claimed that it is innocent and committed no wrongdoing.