The Justice Department has formally decided to sue Apple, Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillian, Penguin and Simon & Schuster over alleged ebook price-rigging. Apple and Macmillian have already denied any wrongdoing, saying that the agreements were enhancing competition in an industry previously dominated by Amazon. The case centers around a deal to switch to agency pricing, where the vendor takes a 30 percent cut of each sale rather than the wholesale model which allows stores to sell books at rock-bottom prices. It was previously believed that the publishers had cut back-room deals with the Government agency after bowing to pressure to withdraw Cupertino's "favored nation" status. If successful, the DoJ will allow Amazon and Barnes and Noble amongst others to return to the wholesale model to sell best-sellers at a loss, something that the big five are desperate to avoid, and will look to fight the battle in court. Update: The PDF of the DoJ's filing is now available online -- it makes for fascinating reading. Update 2: Bloomberg is now reporting that Simon & Schuster, Lagardère SCA's Hachette Book Group and HarperCollins have settled with the DoJ over unspecified terms. Hasty!Justice Department formally charges Apple, big five publishers in ebook price fixing case (update) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 Apr 2012 10:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Bloomberg, Department of Justice filing (PDF) | Email this | Comments Continue reading at 'Engadget'
[ Engadget | 2012-04-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In December 2010 I asked: "Is someone fixing ebook prices?" Google's digital bookstore opened for business, and I started comparing prices only to find them fairly consistent across all retailers. I expected to see huge variances, not pricing consistency, which shouldn't be in a competitive... Continue reading at Betanews
[ Betanews | 2012-04-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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While Apple and book publishers may find themselves on the precipice of an antitrust lawsuit from the Justice Department, filings in a concurrent civil class-action lawsuit obtained by BetaNews indicate that Apple has already admitted to two of the most damaging allegations in the case that the... Continue reading at Betanews
[ Betanews | 2012-03-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The U.S. Justice Department has warned Apple Inc. and five top book publishers that lawsuits over alleged ebook price fixing might be in the offing, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-03-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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On the same day as Apple Inc.'s release of its much-anticipated Apple Music streaming service, a federal court upheld a ruling Tuesday that states the company illegally conspired with book publishers to drive up prices for ebooks to compete against Amazon.com Inc., USA TODAY reported. The... Continue reading at Silicon Valley Business Journal
[ Silicon Valley Business Journal | 2015-07-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The hearing on the revived case comes some 10 months after magistrate judge Valerie Figueredo found insufficient evidence for the initial case to proceed. The suit accuses Amazon and the Big Five publishers of a conspiracy to fix e-book prices, a claim the publishers insist is "implausible" and... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-06-08 04:00:00 UTC ]
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In a filing this week, Amazon and the Big Five publishers said the plaintiffs' claims of an e-book price-fixing conspiracy are "implausible." Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-07-07 04:00:00 UTC ]
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On March 19, lawyers from Hagens Berman filed a class action suit on behalf of consumers in the U.S. District Court in Seattle, accusing Amazon of a massive horizontal price fixing scheme involving its two million third-party sellers. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-03-23 04:00:00 UTC ]
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You might have a few extra dollars to spend on Amazon this week, all courtesy of Apple. On Tuesday, Amazon started issuing refunds as part of Apple’s price-fixing settlement. If you purchased a qualifying ebook from Amazon, you will be automatically receiving credits in your account. All you... Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2016-06-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Some buyers of ebooks will begin to receive payments Tuesday as part of a settlement in a price-fixing case against Apple.People who purchased ebooks between April 1, 2010, and May 21, 2012, will receive credits from ebook sellers, or will get a check if they opted out of receiving credits,... Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2016-06-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Supreme Court in America is not going to take up Apple's appeal of the ebook price fixing ruling, effectively bringing to a close the "one of the most contentious legal dramas in modern publishing history". Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-03-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Supreme Court rejected an appeal from Apple Inc. on Monday, leaving in place a ruling that Apple conspired with publishers to raise electronic book prices when the company sought to challenge Amazon.com's dominance of the market. The justices' order lets stand an appeals court ruling that... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2016-03-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Apple's long-running court battle over manipulating the pricing of ebooks is getting even more dramatic. Next stop, the Supreme Court, Fortune reports. Back in June, Apple failed to get a Manhattan appeals court to overturn a 2014 ruling that woul... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2015-09-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Apple did conspire with publishers in the US to fix the prices of ebooks, an appeal court has found. The technology company had appealed against an earlier decision by Judge Denise Cote, who said that Apple and publishers were guilty of conspiring to raise the prices of ebooks. Apple appealed... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-07-02 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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A US federal appeals court upholds a ruling that Apple conspired with publishers fix the prices of electronic books. Continue reading at BBC World
[ BBC World | 2015-06-30 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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Apple Inc. has agreed to pay $400 million to settle allegations that the company conspired with publishers to raise ebook prices. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2014-07-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The settlement brings an end to one of the biggest and longest-lasting legal cases of the ebook era. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2014-06-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Even as federal antitrust lawyers proposed a slight reduction in their proposed penalties in the Apple ebook case, they stepped up their criticism of the company for continuing to insist it did nothing wrong. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2013-08-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Apparently Apple isn't the only company thinking the US Department of Justice's recently imposed remedies against it were "draconian." US publishers HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, Penguin and others have also ganged up on the DOJ with a legal brief opposing the punitive restrictions. In... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2013-08-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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