While publishers have agreed to a settlement in the ebook price-fixing case involving Apple and all the major book publishers, the federal judge has ruled that Apple is guilty with its iBookstore, according to Reuters. In a separate lawsuit, attorneys will now have to recover damages on behalf of consumers in the coming months. Back in April 2012, the DOJ wrote an antitrust complaint against Apple and six major book publishers in the U.S. Initially, Apple found the complaint “fundamentally flawed” and “absurd.” The six book publishers (now five) all caved, leaving Apple as the only remaining contender in the case. In a similar ebook lawsuit with the European Commission, Apple settled the antitrust case without admitting that it was guilty. When the iBookstore was unveiled in 2010, the so-called agency pricing model took over ebook stores. Amazon was the big guy and Apple the newcomer. Publishers were scared of Amazon’s dominance. They wanted Apple to grab market share and they didn’t want razor-thin margins after giving back author royalties. Instead of paying $9.99 for new releases, books were priced at $12.99 or $14.99. Apple forced publishers to put the same price tag on the Kindle Store, the iBookstore and every other ebook store. “Apple played a central role in facilitating and executing that conspiracy,” said Judge Denise Cote. As part of the lawsuit, publishers and ebook stores will have to end the agency pricing model for two years.
Posted on: Wed, 10 Jul 2013 14:25:33 +0000
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