“All Canadians who have bought electronic books in the past two years could be rewarded if Apple and book publishers are found guilty of price fixing, says a local lawyer,” Jason Magder reports for The Montreal Gazette.
“Last February, lawyer Normand Painchaud filed in Quebec Superior Court for permission to launch a class-action lawsuit against Apple Corp. and five book publishers, among them Harpercollins Publishers Inc. and Penguin Group, the same group being pursued in the U.S.,” Magder reports. “Like antitrust lawsuits launched by the Department of Justice in the U.S. and the European Union, the Quebec suit claims that Apple colluded with book publishers to artificially set electronic book prices higher than the $9.99 standard Amazon had set for most of its electronic books.”
Magder reports, “Reached Friday morning, Painchaud said his is one of three lawsuits in Canada, with other requests for class actions being launched in British Columbia and Ontario. Painchaud said if his or any of the other lawsuits are successful, there will probably be a method set out to extend damages to all Canadian owners of electronic books.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: All aboard (the train to nowhere)!
Related articles:
Apple desires federal trial vs. U.S. DOJ over eBook price-fixing – April 18, 2012
Apple vs. Amazon: Who’s really fixing eBook prices? – April 17, 2012
Apple: U.S. DOJ’s accusation of collusion against iBookstore is simply not true – April 12, 2012
Apple not likely to be a loser in legal fight over eBooks – April 12, 2012
16 U.S. states join DOJ’s eBook antitrust action against Apple, publishers – April 12, 2012
Australian gov’t considers suing Apple, five major publishers over eBook pricing – April 12, 2012
DOJ’s panties in a bunch over Apple and eBooks, but what about Amazon? – April 12, 2012
Antitrust experts: Apple likely to beat U.S. DOJ, win its eBook lawsuit – April 12, 2012
Why the market shrugged off the Apple antitrust suit – April 11, 2012
What’s wrong with the U.S. DOJ? – April 11, 2012
Macmillan CEO blasts U.S. DOJ; gov’t on verge of killing real competition for appearance of competition – April 11, 2012
U.S. DOJ hits Apple,major publishers with antitrust lawsuit, alleges collusion on eBook prices – April 11, 2012
U.S. DOJ may sue Apple over ebook price-fixing as early as today, sources say – April 11, 2012
I ponder…………………… Ties to RIMM? Hm 😉
now tell me, what gives people the right to complain about ebook prices, i am not. i would rather pay say 9.99 for an iBook over the paper back at say 29.99. the digital book is far more accessible to me and better looking than the paperback will ever be. and i do not mind paying the say 9.99, as long as the majority of the cost of the book is going to the publisher and the writers, like the current set up with the ibook store is already. tell em where a writer is suppose to evan a living when a book costs .99. sure at .99 you can sell a million but i bet less than .25 goes to the writers. at 9.99 at least i’d imagine they get 3.00 per book. and what does a little competition due, when amazon is the biggest player and they are not happy when apple enters the game and now apples being sued. to me thats anticompetitive practices at its best. amazon should be sued not apple
EXACTLY!
Monkey see, Monkey do!
There are 2 thing that are unlimited… the universe and man’s stupidity. … Einstein
classic attempt for the unearned. shameless!
Well, considering most of the ebooks on my iPhone and iPad are in iBooks and kindle, and the majority were either free or less than £9.99, I fail to see how this is an issue, except for money-grabbing leeches and parasites.
I favor the idea of the prices being set based on what the market can handle. Earlier today I was looking for an e-book, The Leadership Challenge, by Kouzes and Posner. Apple has it in the iBookstore for $16.99. Amazon has the Kindle edition it for $13.35.
As a diehard Mac/iOS fan, I was inclined to buy the iBooks version. But then there was the issue that Amazon offered it with pagination that matched the print edition. Since I need it for academic purpose, and since page numbering is important in referencing, I opted for the Kindle version. I don’t own a Kindle, but I’ll read it on the Kindle app on my new iPad.
Costs and other market factors will drive the price. I can’t say anything about collusion. I don’t know that took place. But ultimately, which ever of the providers meets my needs (financial and otherwise) will get my business.
Who ever said one company (Amazon) could determine the lowest price of an e-book? Why stop at at $9.99, why not $8.99, $7.99, etc.? Why don’t we take this a step further for everything – make everything the price we prefer to pay, not what it costs plus some profit. $.50 a gallon for gas anyone? $1.99 theater admission price perhaps? Doesn’t sound very American to me.
The people don’t win in class-action lawsuits only the lawyer’s do Norman went from living in his office to some up scale nieghborhood over night with his first and only case. go after the big money. No different than an ambulance chaser
What is missing from recent class action lawsuits? Class… Even if Apple loses these lawsuits, the only ones who will substantially benefit are the lawyers. The class representatives will receive a bit of swag for lending their names to the lawsuit. The rest of the “class” will receive a pittance, at best.
Class action lawsuits have an important role in enabling regular folks to band together to oppose corruption backed by big pockets. But stinking lawyers have twisted them to their own benefit.
Ebooks are now 15.99 per book it is wrong and I for one am all for the lawsuit