DOJ Finally Sues Apple and Publishers for E-Book Price Fixing
Apple and a handful of publishers got hit with a price-fixing lawsuit on Wednesday, with the Department of Justice finally snipping the string on the sword of Damocles that's been dangling over the e-book industry for months. Bloomberg was first to the story, but The Wall Street Journal's coverage of the antitrust suit is much easier to understand, which is good for us non-industry types.
Per WSJ's Chad Bray and Brent Kendall, the Department of Justice "alleges Apple and the publishers reached an agreement where retail price competition would cease, retail e-books prices would increase significantly and Apple would be guarantee a 30% 'commission' on each e-book sold." At issue here is what's known as an agency model, in which publishers set the price for their e-books, as opposed to a wholesale model, in which
Per WSJ's Chad Bray and Brent Kendall, the Department of Justice "alleges Apple and the publishers reached an agreement where retail price competition would cease, retail e-books prices would increase significantly and Apple would be guarantee a 30% 'commission' on each e-book sold." At issue here is what's known as an agency model, in which publishers set the price for their e-books, as opposed to a wholesale model, in which