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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Indigo fires Canadian publishers' anger over changing terms

Written By: M J Deschamps in Ottawa Publication Date: Fri, 22/07/2011 - 15:02 Canadian publishers have attacked the decision by Indigo Books & Music, the country's biggest bookshop chain, to stock fewer books and evaluate returns on a shorter time frame. They claim it is putting extra... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon UK launches Textbook Trade-In Programme

Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Thu, 21/07/2011 - 09:08 Amazon.co.uk has launched a service allowing customers to trade in old textbooks in exchange for gift card credit on their Amazon account. The UK e-retailer is allowing customers to send textbooks to Amazon free-of-charge, but... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Conde Nast, Other Publishers Look to Standardize Audience Metrics In Digital Editions

Digital editions, the oft-dubbed “Wild West” of the publishing world, may be charted in the near future. Many publishers are investing large amounts of time and resources to navigating user behavior in tablet editions of magazines, and this data is being used in a variety of ways. Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2011-07-21 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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Natmag poaches Grazia publisher Ella Dolphin for Cosmo

Ella Dolphin, the publisher of Bauer Media title Grazia, is to join Cosmopolitan as publishing director. Continue reading at Media Week

[ Media Week | 2011-07-20 00:00:00 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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Puffin revives Price's Adventure series

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

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[ 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

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[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Ebury to publish Armistice poetry collection

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[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-15 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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Children's publishing "haemorrhaging talent"

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

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[ Folio Magazine | 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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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:

The launch of a $140 dedicated eBooks reader puts Google's store more directly in opposition to the Nook and Amazon's Kindle. The iRiver Story goes on sale July 17 at Target. Continue reading at PC World

[ 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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