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"<p dir=\"ltr\" id=\"docs-internal-guid-bb29d6ee-03ec-3964-47fd-c330e730b09e\">CHICAGO (Legal Newsline) -- Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan said Tuesday that Illinois e-book customers will start receiving payments this week from a price-fixing settlement with five book publishers.</p><br /><br /><p dir=\"ltr\">Madigan joined 32 other attorneys general in a lawsuit against Penguin Group (USA) Inc., Holtzbrinck Publishers LLC, doing business as Macmillan, Simon &amp; Schuster Inc., HarperCollins Publishers LLC and Hachette Group Inc. after they allegedly conspired with Apple Inc. to drive up the price of e-books beginning in 2010.</p><br /><p dir=\"ltr\">The five publishers agreed to pay a total of $166 million. Illinois residents will receive a portion of the settlement worth more than $6.4 million.</p><br /><p dir=\"ltr\">\"This scheme to fix prices caused consumers to spend millions more on e-books than they otherwise would have paid,\" Madigan said.</p><br /><p dir=\"ltr\">\"This settlement will help compensate customers and send a clear signal that we will enforce the antitrust laws to ensure fair competition.\"</p><br /><p dir=\"ltr\">The payments will be sent to 23 million customers of major e-book retailers, including Google, Sony, Apple, Kobo, Barnes &amp; Noble and Amazon.</p><br /><p dir=\"ltr\">In July, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York found Apple liable for violating antitrust laws by conspiring with five book publishers to fix the prices of e-books.</p><br /><p dir=\"ltr\">A second trial is scheduled for later this year to determine the amount of damages Apple must pay. Illinois e-book customers may receive additional account credits or checks after that trial.</p>"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://legalnewsline.com/stories/510517289-illinois-ag-obtains-customer-payments-from-e-book-settlement>