Apple and four major ebook publishers have offered retailers such as Amazon.com the option to set their own prices for ebooks for the next two years in a bid to end an antitrust investigation in the European Union. The European Commission launched the investigation into allegations of cartel price-fixing by Harper Collins, Hachette Livre, Simon & Schuster, Penguin, Macmillan and Apple last December. The publishers are accused of colluding with Apple to fix the price of ebooks, forcing up prices for consumers and attempting to squeeze rivals such as Amazon out of the market. The case hinges on so-called “agency pricing”, which allows more control by publishers over retail prices, in particular an unusual “most favored nation” (MFN) clause. Apple, Harper Collins, Hachette Livre, Simon & Schuster and Macmillan have all offered to terminate existing agency agreements and refrain from adopting price MFN clauses for five years. Penguin has not offered any commitments and an investigation into its conduct is ongoing. In addition, retailers would be free to set the retail price of ebooks, offering whatever discounts or promotions they wish, for a two-year period, so long as the total value of discounts does not exceed the total annual amount of commission that the retailer receives from the publisher, reported the E.U.’s Official Journal on Wednesday. This could mean lower prices for consumers thanks to increased competition. However the Commission is asking... Continue reading at 'PC World'
[ PC World | 2012-09-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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On the same day that Apple Music launched, Apple received some bad news from the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. In a 2 to 1 vote, judges ruled that the company did conspire with publishers to inflate the prices of ebooks sold through iBookstore, agreeing with a 2013 ruling. The judges found... Continue reading at Betanews
[ Betanews | 2015-06-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Apple conspired with publishers to artificially raise the price of ebooks, the Second US Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan ruled today, upholding a verdict from 2013. Now that the company has lost its appeal, Apple is expected to pay $450 millio... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2015-06-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In Madrid, several top ebook distributors meet to discuss mutual challenges in book publishing and the possibility of a common European digital market. The post Ebook Distributors Meet to Discuss Common EU Digital Market appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2015-06-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon.com’s ebook distribution deals are coming under close scrutiny from the European Commission, which has begun a formal antitrust investigation into the company’s contracts with publishers.The probe will focus on clauses in Amazon’s contracts that require publishers to tell the company... Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2015-06-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Russian publishers are fighting a government mandate that requires them to offer ebook editions of all their titles for a new national digital library. The post Russian Publishers Balk at Government Ebook Mandate appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2015-06-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Upstart publishers in Iran are using ebooks and digital-only distribution as a way to circumvent government censors in Iran and reach willing readers. The post Publishers in Iran Use Ebooks to Circumvent Censors appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2015-05-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publishers in the US including Hachette Book Group, Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster are making $250m (£163m) in free ebooks available to low-income students as part of a scheme announced today (30th April) by President Obama. The new ebook commitments, to cover a three-year... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-05-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Apple Watch is officially out today, but the so-called wearable has already sparked an arms race among media companies vying for attention on your wrist.(Does that make it a wrist race?)Newspapers, TV news networks, magazine publishers and radio stations have introduced apps for the Watch.... Continue reading at Advertising Age
[ Advertising Age | 2015-04-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Apple Watch is now for sale and strategy leads from digital media companies the world over are bracing themselves for the question: “What’s our wearables strategy?” It’s early. It’s OK not to dive into wearable product creation yet. Things are pretty locked down on the software side anyway.... Continue reading at Digiday
[ Digiday | 2015-04-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Microsoft and Getty Images have settled a copyright dispute and agreed to work together to provide the digital media company’s images for the software giant’s products like Bing and Cortana.Getty had filed a complaint in September against the Bing Image Widget, launched in the previous month,... Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2015-04-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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E-books must be subject to the full rate of value-added tax (VAT), and European Union countries may not extend tax exemptions for books to include ebooks, the EU’s highest court ruled Thursday, adding that it considers downloadable ebooks to be services.Most EU member states, with the exception... Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2015-03-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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During an appeals court hearing on the Department of Justice's price-fixing case against Apple, some judges argued against the DOJ, asserting that Apple was simply challenging 'predatory' pricing from rival Amazon. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2014-12-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The French Publishers Association (Syndicat National de l’Edition, SNE) has warned its members that France may raise VAT on ebooks from 5.5% to the standard 20% during the first half of next year to avoid a fine of several million euros from the European Court of Justice, according to the trade... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-12-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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iBooks chief fighting US court ruling that the company ‘conspired’ to fix prices in its competition with Amazon is defiant before trial. Tim Cook ‘feels the same’Apple goes before a US federal appeal court in two weeks to try to overturn a US Justice Department ruling on ebooks price-fixing. But... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2014-12-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A federal judge in New York has given final approval to a settlement in which Apple will pay $450 million for its role in a conspiracy to fix prices for ebooks. Judge Denise Cote of the U.S. District Court in Manhattan called the settlement “fair and reasonable.” It requires Apple to pay $400... Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2014-11-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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After months of bitter fighting, Hachette and Amazon announced on Thursday morning that they have settled their differences and reached a new multi-year agreement for ebook and print book sales. The post Amazon Resolves Dispute With Top-Five Publisher Hachette Over Book Sales appeared first on... Continue reading at Wired
[ Wired | 2014-11-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon, which earlier pulled several of Hachettes books from its inventory, will resume selling all of the publishers catalogueThe long-running battle between Amazon and publisher Hachette has come to a close, after the companies reached agreement over online and ebook sales after months of... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2014-11-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Internet giant Amazon and book publisher Hachette resolve a bitter months-long royalties dispute that has delayed orders of several high-profile titles. Continue reading at BBC World
[ BBC World | 2014-11-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Love it or hate it, you can't deny that Apple is a phenomenally successful company. But how has it managed to achieve this from a business that started in a garage? Mostly it hasn’t been by innovation but by taking technology that already existed and turning it into the devices that people want... Continue reading at Betanews
[ Betanews | 2014-09-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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European periodical and online publishers have urged the European Commission to reject Google’s latest proposal to settle an antitrust case.The commitments proposed by Google would not stop the company’s “abusive promotion of its own services,” the publishers said in their response, sent to the... Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2014-09-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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