Ohioans who bought e-books between April 2010 and May 2012 may soon be seeing e-mails that could make them suspicious, but actually do mean they’re owed money.
A settlement over price-fixing reached in 2012 with several e-book publishers and 33 states, including Ohio, is starting to be distributed. Dan Tierney with the Attorney General’s office says $4.7 million will be going out to Ohioans who bought e-books, and they should find out about their shares of that pot shortly.
Tierney says it would be easy to dismiss those e-mails as scams, but he notes that e-mail is a key way those e-book retailers will communicate with buyers entitled to account credits or checks. Four e-book publishers settled with the states for $166 million, but Apple declined to settle the case against it. A judge ruled Apple played a central role in price-fixing, and a second trial will be held to determine how much Apple will pay in damages. That means more money could be coming to Ohio e-book buyers in the future.
