Apple, five major publishers accused of e-book collusion by DOJ

On Wednesday, the Department of Justice filed a complaint in US District Court against Apple and a group of publishers. Hachette, HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster have agreed to settle. The rest will probably fight on. 

|
Reuters
Apple and five major publishers are under fire from the Department of Justice. Here, a man holds an Apple iPad.

On Wednesday morning, the Department of Justice filed a complaint in US District Court against Apple and five publishers, including Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin, and Simon & Schuster. The allegation: That Apple and the publishers conspired to raise the prices of e-books by as much as $5, in an effort to prevent Amazon, which prices many of its e-books at 10 bucks, from locking in what publishers believe is an artificially low price. 

"In recent years, we have seen the rapid growth – and the many benefits – of electronic books," Attorney General Eric Holder said at a press conference. "E-books are transforming our daily lives, and improving how information and content is shared. For the growing number of Americans who want to take advantage of this new technology, the Department of Justice is committed to ensuring that e-books are as affordable as possible."

Holder told reporters that three of the publishers – Hachette, HarperCollins, and Simon & Schuster – had agreed to a settlement. Apple, Penguin, and MacMillan, on the other hand, will likely fight back in court. "Macmillan did not act illegally. Macmillan did not collude," Macmillan CEO John Sargent told authors, illustrators, and agents in a recent letter, according to the Associated Press

The terms of the settlement, Holder said, required "the companies to terminate their anticompetitive most-favored-nation agreements with Apple and other e-books retailers."

Meanwhile, the attorneys general of 15 states are bringing their own complaints against Apple and the five publishers. The AP has reported that in Connecticut and Texas, Hachette and Harper Collins have agreed to pay $52 million in restitution to consumers, "using a formula based on the number of states participating and the number of e-books sold in each state." 

A surprising development, obviously. And not everyone is pleased. In an editorial today, the Los Angeles Times argues that the deals that are currently under fire helped foster competition in the e-book marketplace. 

"Amazon still has the lion's share of the e-book market, but new outlets are gaining traction," reads the editorial. "Meanwhile, the Kindle is no longer the presumptive king of the ebook readers, thanks to Apple's popular iPad and Barnes & Noble's Nook. These changes are good for consumers, which leads critics of the Justice Department to ask why it's scrutinizing the contracts that caused them."

For more tech news, follow us on Twitter @venturenaut. And don’t forget to sign up for the weekly BizTech newsletter.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Apple, five major publishers accused of e-book collusion by DOJ
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Technology/Horizons/2012/0412/Apple-five-major-publishers-accused-of-e-book-collusion-by-DOJ
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe