Most eBook readers have not been aware of the lawsuit that has been ongoing against many major publishing companies. allegedly, major publishing companies had schemed with Amazon and Apple to book the prices of eBooks.

Here’s how it worked. You purchased a book from iTunes between 2010 and 2012 from one of the publishers listed in the lawsuit you are most likely entitled to a credit. This credit equals the price you should have paid and the price your actually paid.

Lawsuit allegations are that published colluded with eBook providers to create this price-fixing scheme. This scheme then hatched and was birthed between April 1, 2012 and May 21, 2012. Publishers that were named include: Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins Publishers, and Simon & Schuster. Penguin and Holtzbrinck Publishers were also named but not part of the massive settlement.

Apple will be offering their customers a credit into their iTunes account if they purchased an affected book and should have received an email over this past weekend. Other retailers, such as Barnes & Noble also emailed their customers.

The lawsuit came from the US Department of Justice and publishers have agreed to pay $69 million for the massive settlement.

According to the Associated Press, Amazon has alerted its Kindle customers that they are entitled to a credit on prior electronic book purchases as part of settlements between some major e-book publishers and the government.

The settlement approved by the US Justice Department not only guarantees credits be extended to the consumer but also that these publishers be required to abandon all pricing schemes they had conspired. Furthermore, the published have been ordered to provide monies to be used for credit to consumer.

What does this mean for the consumer? According to The Amazon Kindle Team, the settlement will bring lower prices for the consumer on Kindle books in the future.

Customer do not have to do anything to receive this credit and it is expected to be approved in February. Amazon does not know the exact amount of credit that will be issued until all approvals have been entered, however, the Attorney General estimates it would be somewhere between $.30 up to $1.32 for every eligible Kindle book purchased April 2012 through May 2012. It has been reported the publishers have agreed to pay $69 million dollars in this massive settlement.

Amazon customers will be allowed to use this credit one of three ways. They will be able to purchase additional eBooks, prints book or request a check.

What a nice surprise to see this past week!