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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Headline has acquired the world rights in Poirot and Me by actor David Suchet, writing with... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-10-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Association of American Publishers (AAP) and Google today announced an agreement that marks the end of nearly seven years of litigation, kicked off in 2005, when five members of the organization filed an infringement suit against the online giant. The deal helps bring digitized books and... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2012-10-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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An erotic novel has become Penguin's most successful ever ebook in terms of weekly sales,... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-10-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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US publisher SourceBooks has developed a new range of interactive ebooks for Apple devices based... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-10-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Some readers were upset by the font size of early releases of the ebook version of 'The Casual Vacancy,' in addition to concerns about its price. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2012-10-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Penguin Children's has snapped up rights to The Breathing series by self-published author... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-10-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publishers should be the "drivers‚" of multimedia brand development, undertaking... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-09-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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JK Rowling's novel, The Casual Vacancy, suffers a formatting error in the US making it near-impossible to read on some e-readers. Continue reading at BBC World
[ BBC World | 2012-09-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Bestselling author JK Rowling spoke for the first time in public last night about her new novel The Casual Vacancy, which signals the coming of age of the Harry Potter generation. Continue reading at Stuff
[ Stuff | 2012-09-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Barnes & Noble will release its self-publishing platform PubIt in the UK following the launch... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-09-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon and Sony are continuing to offer ebooks at 20p, with further titles added to their... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-09-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Albuquerque Publishing Company – the advertising sales, production and distribution agent for New Mexico’s largest and most read newspaper, the Albuquerque Journal – is live with Atex Advertising. The Atex syst ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher
[ Editor & Publisher | 2012-09-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Renowned Nigerian author Chinua Achebe publishes his long-awaited memoir, There Was a Country, about the brutal three-year Biafran war. Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2012-09-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Morris Publishing Group is establishing a partnership with the local digital marketing team of magazine and newspaper publishing firm Hearst. Morris announced today that it reached an agreement with LocalEdge, a Hearst Media Services company, to re ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher
[ Editor & Publisher | 2012-09-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Government-appointed panel to consider what role can ebooks play in our libraries in future. Continue reading at BBC World
[ BBC World | 2012-09-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Square Peg has acquired a cookery book which explores the history and traditions of sweets, to be... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-09-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Penguin is understood to have begun a review of its travel division, with staff informed today (... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-09-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Spain's increasing involvement in the Eurozone crisis, along with government austerity... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-09-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Over the past few semesters the University of Kansas Bookstore and a growing number of independent college stores have begun taking advantage of the way students comparison shop for textbooks by sharing their competitors’ prices on their own store’s Web sites and/or pricing books dynamically... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-09-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publishers say the plan to abolish competing exam boards as GCSEs are scrapped in favour of new... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-09-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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