“A U.S. antitrust settlement with e- book publishers Simon & Schuster, Hachette Book Group and HarperCollins should be approved by a judge, lawyers for the federal government said in a court filing,” David Glovin reports for Bloomberg.
“Under the settlement, the three companies agreed to cancel contracts with electronic-book sellers that allowed publishers to set prices,” Glovin reports. “Claims by the U.S., 15 states and Puerto Rico are pending against Apple Inc. and other companies.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: The U.S. DOJ is plainly inept.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]
Related articles:
U.S. Justice Department slams Apple, refuses to modify e-book settlement – July 23, 2012
U.S. senator Schumer: Myopic DOJ needs to drop Apple e-books suit – July 18, 2012
Apple’s U.S. e-books antitrust case set for 2013 trial – June 24, 2012
U.S. government complains, claims Apple trying to rush e-books antitrust case – June 21, 2012
Barnes & Noble blasts U.S. DOJ e-book settlement proposal – June 7, 2012
Apple: U.S. government’s e-book antitrust lawsuit ‘is fundamentally flawed as a matter of fact and law’ – May 24, 2012
Federal Judge rejects Apple and publishers’ attempt to dismiss civil case alleging e-book price-fixing – May 15, 2012
Court documents reveal Steve Jobs email pushing e-book agency model; 17 more states join class action suit – May 15, 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
hmm, is it possible the the gov’ts attorneys are rushing to have the settlement approved because Apple may be doing better in court and there is increasing political pressure for the DOJ to back off?
I wonder if Apple wanted to rush to the courtroom with their case to effectively negate these settlements.
If Apple prevails, will these agreements be negated or will they still be enforced? I’m not sure these agreements with the DoJ would be negated even if Apple wins a court case.
The DoJ agreements with the publishers could be held to be enforceable regardless of the outcome with Apple and the other publishers. The publishers who signed these agreements would probably have to go to court to get them overturned, and if they aren’t willing to fight now, they probably won’t be willing to fight later.
Hell… I’m not even sure that Apple will win. Fighting the government is usually a no-win scenario.
Those rats are going to regret knuckling under when Apple embarrasses the DoJ in plain view of the American public.
Whatever happened to the principle that authors set the prices, then publishers take a fair margin?
When and where was such a “principle” ever established? As someone who has worked in the publishing field for twenty years, not once did I ever hear or read of that principle.
And who determines what is “fair”?
The Market.
There is a lot I don’t understand about this. MacLeods law states: “When there is something you don’t understand: someone is making money!’
Stevie Wonder says that “When you believe in things you don’t understand, you suffer.”
Paul McCartney said “Hey Jude.”
Neil Diamond ” no one there, not even a chair.”
joni mitchell says, “… now don’t it always seem to go, you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone…”
botvinnik says “zzzz”
zzz. Lol
Doesn’t say much for these cowardly publishers that don’t have the strength of their convictions. Makes them look guilty as charged. At the very least they could hold back until Apple’s day in court with the Dept. Of Jactitation.
I wish everyone would quit blaming the Feds exclusively for this idiocy. The 15 states actually filed first.
The key word in your statement is “first”. The states just jumped into legal proceedings as soon as they heard the feds were investigating.
Something they are wont to do… usually as soon as they smell money in the water.
MacDailyNews Take: “The U.S. DOJ is plainly inept.”
No, they are crooks! Just read up a bit on the “Fast & Furious” gun smuggling case. Holder is now in contempt of Congress for withholding documents.
So if the publisher is not supposed to set the price, then who does? How does it work with B&N, and local book stores?
Tipically the price of the book is printed on the inner flap or back cover of the book. If the book sits around too long, or the retailer is willing to take a smaller cut, they can discount the book.
Is that what the Feds want? The retailer or Apple to take a smaller cut and offer discounts? It seems the App Store is working fine as an agency model and no one is complaining.
I don’t really understand what is being requested or was was wrong.
Being held in contempt of a Congress with a less than 10 percent approval rating must be some kind of honor.