Last week the U.S. Department of Justice filed an antitrust suit against Apple and five publishers for alleged price fixing of ebooks. Apple fired back, claiming that it’s the hero in this equation, not the villain–just doing its part to break the monopoly hold Amazon held over the publishing industry. As an author, and a consumer of ebooks, I take exception to Apple’s claim.

Prior to Apple jumping into the game Amazon did, in fact, have a virtual monopoly of the ebook market. The Amazon Kindle is a dominant device among ereaders, and its popularity drove the Kindle digital book format to the front of the pack.