The Big 'If' in Apple's Ebook Settlement

No money will change hands until Apple has exhausted its appeals.

U.S.A. v. Apple, the e-book antitrust suit that Apple AAPL -0.28% lost so spectacularly last year, is back in the news.

Apple has struck a deal with 30 states attorneys general who had demanded hundreds of millions of dollars in damages on behalf of book buyers in the their states. By settling, the two sides avoided a jury trial that was set to begin next month.