Feel that e-book prices are too high? Guess what? The US Department of Justice Agrees. Today they decided to go after Apple and five publishers of conspiring to raise e-book prices:
In a civil antitrust lawsuit, the Justice Department alleged that CEOs of the publishing companies met regularly in private dining rooms of upscale Manhattan restaurants to discuss how to respond to steep discounting of their e-books by Amazon.com Inc., a practice they disliked. The executives also called and emailed each other to craft a solution to what one of them called “the wretched $9.99 price point,” the suit said.
The five publishers and Apple hatched an arrangement that lifted the price of many best-selling e-books to $12.99 or $14.99, according to the suit. The publishers then banded together to impose that model on Amazon, the government alleged.
If this holds up, this will radically shake things up in the e-book market and perhaps make things much cheaper for you the consumer. Now everyone who’s being sued denies that they’re doing anything wrong. But there’s this little tidbit:
Three of the publishers settled with the Justice Department, agreeing to let Amazon and other retailers resume discounting of e-books. Settlement of a separate suit filed by 16 states and U.S. territories could lead to tens of millions of dollars in restitution to consumers who bought e-books at the higher prices.
That leaves Apple and two publishers to fight it out in court. Good luck to them with that. They’re going to need it.
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This entry was posted on April 11, 2012 at 9:28 pm and is filed under Commentary with tags Apple, E-Book, Lawsuit. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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DOJ Takes On Apple Among Others Over E-Book Pricing
Feel that e-book prices are too high? Guess what? The US Department of Justice Agrees. Today they decided to go after Apple and five publishers of conspiring to raise e-book prices:
In a civil antitrust lawsuit, the Justice Department alleged that CEOs of the publishing companies met regularly in private dining rooms of upscale Manhattan restaurants to discuss how to respond to steep discounting of their e-books by Amazon.com Inc., a practice they disliked. The executives also called and emailed each other to craft a solution to what one of them called “the wretched $9.99 price point,” the suit said.
The five publishers and Apple hatched an arrangement that lifted the price of many best-selling e-books to $12.99 or $14.99, according to the suit. The publishers then banded together to impose that model on Amazon, the government alleged.
If this holds up, this will radically shake things up in the e-book market and perhaps make things much cheaper for you the consumer. Now everyone who’s being sued denies that they’re doing anything wrong. But there’s this little tidbit:
Three of the publishers settled with the Justice Department, agreeing to let Amazon and other retailers resume discounting of e-books. Settlement of a separate suit filed by 16 states and U.S. territories could lead to tens of millions of dollars in restitution to consumers who bought e-books at the higher prices.
That leaves Apple and two publishers to fight it out in court. Good luck to them with that. They’re going to need it.
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This entry was posted on April 11, 2012 at 9:28 pm and is filed under Commentary with tags Apple, E-Book, Lawsuit. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.