Amazon.com and 'Big Five' publishers accused of ebook price-fixing

Class action lawsuit filed in US claims the houses have colluded with the online giant to keep prices artificially highAmazon.com and the “Big Five” publishers – Penguin Random House, Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan and Simon & Schuster – have been accused of colluding to fix ebook prices, in a class action filed by the law firm that successfully sued Apple and the Big Five on the same charge 10 years ago.The lawsuit, filed in district court in New York on Thursday by Seattle firm Hagens Berman, on behalf of consumers in several US states, names the retail giant as the sole defendant but labels the publishers “co-conspirators”. It alleges Amazon and the publishers use a clause known as “Most Favored Nations” (MFN) to keep ebook prices artificially high, by agreeing to price restraints that force consumers to pay more for ebooks purchased on retail platforms that are not Amazon.com. Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2021-01-15 13:04:33 UTC ]
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Amazon Kindle launches textbook rentals

Iniative would allow Kindle users to rent books with up to 80% offAmazon.com launched Kindle textbook rentals, promising "tens of thousands of textbooks" at discounts of as much as 80% less than purchase price on July 18. Continue reading at Baltimore Sun

[ Baltimore Sun | 2011-07-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Gollancz opens sci-fi Gateway to ebooks

Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Wed, 20/07/2011 - 15:00 Thousands of out of print science-fiction titles will be available digitally, after Gollancz launched the world's largest science-fiction and fantasy library, the SF Gateway. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Puffin revives Price's Adventure series

Written By: Caroline Horn Publication Date: Tue, 19/07/2011 - 11:21 Puffin is reviving Willard Price's Adventure series, which will be penned by Henry Tumour author Anthony McGowan, after signing a deal with his estate. Publisher Amanda Punter and executive editor Shannon Park bought world... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publishers Association plans second digital survey

Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Tue, 19/07/2011 - 17:41 The Publishers Association is launching its second digital survey this year and could introduce a quarterly digital survey by 2012. The trade body said the survey came in response to the "significant growth" in digital sales,... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon Tries Taking the Kindle To School, Again, With Textbook Rentals

Amazon, which dominates the ebook market, has stayed out of the electronic textbook market. Until now: The company has opened up a textbook store for its Kindle platform, where it is renting "tens of thousands" of titles for the upcoming school year. Continue reading at AllThingsD

[ AllThingsD | 2011-07-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Wylie accuses HC of "punitive" behaviour

Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Mon, 18/07/2011 - 15:30 Agent Andrew Wylie has accused HarperCollins of acting in an "unusually shrill and punitive" way toward authors, claiming the controversy surrounding parent company NewsCorp should lead to the publisher being examined more... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon offers US students textbook rental

Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Mon, 18/07/2011 - 15:22 Amazon.com is giving students the ability to rent textbooks on Kindle e-readers. The company said students can save up to 80% off textbook prices with the new initiative, which launched today. Kindle Textbook Rental will also... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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First summer of ebooks lies ahead

Written By: Benedicte Page Publication Date: Fri, 15/07/2011 - 14:37 Publishers are preparing for the first big UK ebook summer with a mix of excitement and anxiety as they look forward to strong digital sales but wait to see the effect on print numbers. Nielsen BookScan’s Top 5,000 figures... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publishers and E-Commerce: Perfect Together

E-commerce is a big opportunity for publishers. “If you talk to the people at Net-A-Porter or the people at Gilt, they say they’re increasingly commerce companies moving into content and I think what you’re going to find is content companies are going to move into commerce,” Hearst Magazines... Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2011-07-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Children's publishing "haemorrhaging talent"

Written By: Caroline Horn Publication Date: Fri, 15/07/2011 - 08:46 The industry is "haemorrhaging talent" as authors and illustrators are finding it increasingly difficult to make a living in the children's sector. Agent Caroline Sheldon said that she estimated that fewer than half of the... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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E-textbooks are destroying the old publishing business model

By Tim Conneally, Betanews The business model behind textbooks is completely out of step with what the market today wants, according to the head of Nature Publishing's digital textbook initiatives. Continue reading at Betanews

[ Betanews | 2011-07-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Ebury to publish Armistice poetry collection

Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Fri, 15/07/2011 - 14:29 Ebury is hoping to have unearthed the talents of a new generation of war poets as it publishes a collection of verses, selected by a panel including poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy, to coincide with Armistice Day. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Kobo launches ebook store in Germany

Written By: Bookseller Staff Publication Date: Wed, 13/07/2011 - 09:37 Kobo has begun selling ebooks in Germany, including offering 80,000 titles in the German language, and 2.4 million ebooks in total. The ebookseller is also promising that its devices will be sold in a major consumer... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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iRiver Story HD: First Dedicated E-Reader for Google eBooks:

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[ PC World | 2011-07-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon to open new fulfilment centre

Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Mon, 11/07/2011 - 08:45 Amazon.co.uk is creating 900 jobs by opening its seventh fulfilment centre in Rugeley, Staffordshire. The 700,000 square foot centre will begin fulfilling orders from September and aims to employ more than 900 permanent and... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Google's eBooks Platform Gets Its First Dedicated E-Reader

The first dedicated Google eBooks e-reader is finally headed to market. On July 17, the $139.99 iriver Story HD, will land on the shelves of Target stores nationwide, becoming the first e-reader to allow users to browse, buy and download Google eBooks directly over Wi-Fi. Continue reading at AllThingsD

[ AllThingsD | 2011-07-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Lock, Stock, and Publisher

Booksellers have the industry connections to publish their books just about anywhere, but for some bookstore owners, self-publishing is preferable to going the traditional route. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-07-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Independent ebook site launches

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[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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HarperCollins catches Amazon bestsellers

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[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publishers seek second half upturn to 2011

Written By: The Bookseller News Team Publication Date: Fri, 08/07/2011 - 14:19 Publishers are optimistic about the next six months, despite a number of big ­houses turning in their worst first half-year Nielsen BookScan TCM sales performances for years, with ebook growth already beginning to... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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