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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Guardian Books is to publish a title by the newspaper's columnist The Secret Footballer.... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-07-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Simon & Schuster has snapped up a two-book deal from self-published author Jamie McGuire in a... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-07-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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WASHINGTON (NNPA) – Highly-respected media and entertainment executive William G. Tompkins, Jr. has been named president and chief executive officer of the National Newspaper Publishers Association, a federation of more than 200 Black-owned ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher
[ Editor & Publisher | 2012-07-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Bloomsbury's global ebook sales were up 70% year on year between 1st March and 31st May 2012... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-07-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Andrew Hodder-Williams has been appointed to the role of publishing director at Lion Hudson.... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-07-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Hodder and Stoughton is asking readers to write a companion ebook to its autumn title, Miranda... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-07-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Despite a troubled print advertising market, publishers still believe in the power of glossy paper and ink: They launched 114 magazines in the first half of 2012. That puts the year roughly on par with 2011, when 111 new titles appeared during the same period, according to online database... Continue reading at Crains New York
[ Crains New York | 2012-07-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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While there has been some grumbling in the industry about the ethics and logistics when literary agents start acting as publishers, many firms are now offering a suite of services in this area. Only a handful of agencies are actually publishing titles by their clients through in-house divisions,... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-07-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Led by big dollar gains at Amazon and Walt Disney Co., the Publishers Weekly Stock Index rose 16.7% in the first six months of 2012, almost triple the increase posted by the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-07-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The European Commission has launched an "infringement procedure" against France and... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-07-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Oxford University Press is the first publisher to announce it will be releasing a title... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-07-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Romance specialist Mills & Boon is to resissue 12 backlist titles as digital shorts with new... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-07-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Angry Robot has set up an ebook initiative to support independent bookshops, with the scheme... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-07-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In the fight between Apple, Amazon, the government, and publishers to set prices for electronic books, independents were overlooked. Now, they're banding together and voicing complaints. Continue reading at The Atlantic
[ The Atlantic | 2012-07-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Five of the six parties under investigation by the European Commission over ebook prices... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-07-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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HTML5 promises to get publishers closer to digital media’s Promised Land: create once, deliver everywhere. As deployments increase and the standard evolves, media companies are finding it easier to make a business case for HTML5 investment. .. Continue reading at Editor & Publisher
[ Editor & Publisher | 2012-07-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Bloomsbury has completed the purchase of creative publishers Applied Visual Arts Publishing (AVA... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-07-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Education publishers have given mixed reactions to news leaked last week (20th June) that... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-06-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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News Corp. board backs splitting company's entertainment and publishing businesses Continue reading at MarketWatch.com
[ MarketWatch.com | 2012-06-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The vice-president of the European Commission, Neelie Kroes, has backed a call by European... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-06-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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