Apple surprised pundits and fanboys alike Thursday by announcing it will be appealing the e-book price-fixing case in the Supreme Court.

The original ruling in 2013, subsequently appealed by Apple earlier this year with no success, found that the tech giant had colluded with 5 major publishers to fix the price of e-books to the detriment of consumers.

The judge at the time noted in particular that:

The plaintiffs have shown that the publisher defendants conspired with each other to eliminate retail price competition in order to raise e-book prices, and that Apple played a central role in facilitating and executing that conspiracy.

Without Apple’s orchestration of this conspiracy, it would not have succeeded as it did in the spring of 2010.

Apple has taken the strange path of arguing that anti-competitive price fixing is all about “disruption,” noting in its appeal filing that the case is apparently presents issues of surpassing importance to the United States economy.

“Dynamic, disruptive entry into new or stagnant markets—the lifeblood of American economic growth—often requires the very type of” conduct that Apple engaged in, Forbes reports is Apple’s argument.

Along with a request for a a 30-day extension on the deadline to submit a formal petition, Apple argues that the judge in the original case, Denise Cote, didn’t consider the case in a proper framework, in particular that the competitive benefits of Apple’s behavior including challenging Amazon, which had, and still does, dominates the e-book market.

Nice try

You have to give credit where it’s due, as the grounds for the appeal by Apple are a nice try, even to the point where you’d have to query whether marijuana for non-medical purposes was legal in California yet, because they are seriously arguing that price fixing is pro-consumer.

Someone pass the bong.

Let’s not forget the very basics of the case, as proven in court, and not disputed by Apple either: Apple conspired with publishers including Hatchett, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin and Simon & Schuster in order to sell e-books more expensively than the traditional $9.99 price tag that Amazon set on its own books.

Colluding with publishers and price fixing is neither morally right nor legally right, unless Tim Cook has followed the Steve Jobs path into believing transcendental meditation cures cancer and Apple now officially exists in a parallel universe.

It’s not clear from reports when the appeal will be considered.

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