Wednesday, April 11, 2012

DOJ may sue Apple, publishers over e-book pricing

The Justice Department may sue Apple and possibly two publishers over alleged price-fixing of e-books for the iPad as soon as Wednesday while reaching settlements with other publishing houses, a knowledgeable source confirmed to POLITICO.

The suit is the result of a lengthy investigation into allegations that Apple and five major publishers coordinated the pricing structure of e-books, as Apple sought to enter a market dominated by Amazon and its Kindle e-reader two years ago.

The publishers that have been under investigation are Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins Publishers, Hachette Book Group, Pearson and Macmillan.

Several publishers have been engaged in settlement talks with DOJ, while Apple has not participated, a source told POLITICO. However, the DOJ was said to be readying cases against possibly two of the publishers.

Apple declined to comment. The Justice Department also declined to comment. The five publishers could not be reached.

Full story at Politico.

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