蘋果電子書價格操縱案上訴請求被駁回

Apple has lost its final bid to overturn a judgment that it broke antitrust laws by conspiring to raise ebook prices, in its latest bruising encounter with the US judicial authorities.

蘋果(Apple)推翻一項認定其合謀擡高電子書價格、從而違反競爭法律的判決的最後努力以失敗告終。這是該公司與美國司法當局最新的激烈交鋒。

The US Supreme Court rejected the company’s bid for an appeal against lower court rulings that it engaged in “marketplace vigilantism” against rival Amazon and “unreasonably restrained trade” by creating a “cartel” with publishers to control ebook prices.

美國最高法院(Supreme Court)駁回了蘋果對下級法院裁決提起上訴的請求。下級法院認定，蘋果參與了針對競爭對手亞馬遜(Amazon)的“市場自警行爲”，並通過與出版商創建“卡特爾”以操控電子書價格，“不合理地限制交易”。

The ruling comes as the company begins a long fight with the US justice department over whether it can be forced to help investigators break open an iPhone belonging to one of the killers in the San Bernardino terrorist shootings in December.

最高法院駁回上訴請求之際，蘋果剛開始與美國司法部展開一場長期苦戰，焦點是該公司是否可以被迫協助調查人員解鎖去年12月聖貝納迪諾恐怖槍擊案一名兇手使用過的iPhone。

It is also a blow to Tim Cook, chief executive, who has called the case “bizarre” and defended deals struck by predecessor Steve Jobs and by Apple’s internet services head, Eddy Cue.

該裁決對蘋果首席執行官蒂姆•庫克(Tim Cook)也是一個打擊，他曾形容此案“離奇”，併爲其前任史蒂夫•喬布斯(Steve Jobs)及蘋果互聯網服務負責人艾迪•庫伊(Eddy Cue)所達成的協議辯護。

“We’ve done nothing wrong there and so we’re taking a very principled position on this,” Mr Cook said in a 2013 interview. “We’re not going to sign something that says we did something we didn’t do. So we’re going to fight.”

“我們在這方面沒有任何過錯，因此，我們對本案的立場非常堅持原則，”庫克在2013年的一次採訪中表示，“我們不會簽署那些稱我們做了我們根本沒做的事情的文件。所以，我們將進行鬥爭。”

Apple must pay $400m in compensation to people who bought ebooks through its iBooks store, under the conditional settlement agreed in July 2014. Five publishers have already paid out $166m as part of their 2013 settlement.

根據2014年7月達成的有條件和解協議，蘋果必須向通過iBooks商店購買電子書的消費者支付4億美元的賠償。作爲2013年和解協議的一部分，5家出版商已經支付了1.66億美元。

But the Department of Justice said the company and book publishers had engaged in “cynical misconduct” against the lower prices imposed by Amazon’s Kindle store. “Apple’s liability for knowingly conspiring with book publishers to raise the prices of ebooks is settled once and for all,” said Bill Baer, assistant attorney-general of the department’s antitrust division. “And consumers will be made whole.”

但美國司法部表示，蘋果和圖書出版商曾對亞馬遜Kindle商店實行的較低價格發起“見利忘義的不當行爲”。司法部反壟斷部門助理總檢察長比爾•貝爾(Bill Baer)表示：“蘋果蓄意串通圖書出版商擡高電子書價格，這一責任已被徹底認定。消費者將得到補償。”

Customers who bought books at higher prices will be repaid in store credits.

曾以較高價格購買圖書的用戶將得到商店積分作爲補償。

The US government accused Apple of being the “ringleader” in a conspiracy with the world’s largest book publishers to raise ebook prices using its iPad, at a time when Amazon’s Kindle dominated the market. Whereas Amazon set ebook prices for the Kindle store, Apple introduced the “agency pricing” model with its iBooks system, allowing publishers to decide how much to charge.

美國政府指控稱，在亞馬遜的Kindle主導市場期間，蘋果扮演“頭目”角色，串通全球各大圖書出版商利用iPad提高電子書價格。亞馬遜設定其Kindle商店的電子書價格，而蘋果用iBooks系統推出“代理定價”模式，讓出版商決定定價。

The 2013 trial revealed that a string of emails were sent by Jobs and Mr Cue to publishing industry executives during their negotiations over iBooks.

2013年的審判顯示，喬布斯和庫伊曾向出版業高管發送了一連串電子郵件，其間他們正就iBooks與對方進行談判。