“Simon & Schuster, one of the five major book publishers accused in multiple lawsuits of conspiring with Apple to fix e-book prices, has settled the complaint filed by numerous states’ attorney generals,” Greg Sandoval reports for CNET.
“Denise Cote, the federal judge overseeing the three different antitrust complaints pending against Apple and the defendant publishers, granted a motion Tuesday to dismiss Simon & Schuster from the complaint,” Sandoval reports. “This suit was originally filed by the attorney generals from Texas as well as 15 other state AGs. More states have joined that suit as plaintiffs; 29 are now involved.”
Sandoval reports, “Simon & Schuster (owned by CNET’s parent company, CBS) is believed to be the first of the five defendant publishers to settle with the states. The terms of the settlement weren’t provided in court documents. Last month, Simon & Schuster also settled a complaint by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) as did Lagardere SCA’s Hachette Book Group and News Corp.’s HarperCollins. The defendants that refused to settle and deny wrongdoing are Apple and Macmillan Publishers (owned by Germany’s Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck holding company), and Pearson PLC’s Penguin Group.
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: To pluralize a quote from Sgt. Hulka: “Gutless. Punks.”
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