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DOJ proposes settlement in Apple ebook price fixing case: end current agreements, link to other stores

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After reaching settlements with just about every publisher involved in the long-running Apple/Amazon e-book price fixing case, The United States Department of Justice today published its proposal to end the case with Apple after finding the company guilty of conspiring to fix ebook prices during trial earlier this month:

“The court found that Apple’s illegal conduct deprived consumers of the benefits of e-book price competition and forced them to pay substantially higher prices,” said Bill Baer, Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division.  “Under the department’s proposed order, Apple’s illegal conduct will cease and Apple and its senior executives will be prevented from conspiring to thwart competition in the future.”

Among the key points in the proposal:

-Apple must terminate its agreements with the 5 publishers involved

-Must “refrain for five years from entering new e-book distribution contracts which would restrain Apple from competing on price.”

-Must not “serve as a conduit of information among the conspiring publishers or from retaliating against publishers for refusing to sell e-books on agency terms”

-Must not enter contracts for music, movies, TV, or games, that will increase prices for competing retailers

-Must allow other e-book retailers like Amazon and Barnes & Noble to provide links from their e-book apps to their e-bookstores for two years (on iPhone and iPad)

-Must “appoint an external monitor to ensure that Apple’s internal antitrust compliance policies are sufficient to catch anticompetitive activities before they result in harm to consumers”

One of the most notable requests in the proposal would require Apple to allow Amazon and other book publishers to link directly to their ebook stores from within their mobile apps on iOS devices. The DOJ says it would allow “consumers who purchase and read e-books on their iPads and iPhones easily to compare Apple’s prices with those of its competitors.”

The settlement proposal comes following the DOJ’s trial against Apple last month, which resulted in the courts finding Apple guilty of conspiring with other publishers to raise e-book prices.

Apple is the last defendant in the case, as the five publishers initially involved– Hachette Book Group (USA), HarperCollins Publishers L.L.C., Holtzbrinck, Macmillan, Penguin Group (USA) Inc. and Simon & Schuster Inc–had settled with the courts previously. The publishers agreed to terminate agreements with Apple that would limit ebook price competition and “allow for retail price competition in renegotiated e-book distribution agreements.”

A report earlier this month from GigaOM estimated that Apple could have to pay up to $500 million in consumer damages based on what the five publishers have paid through state and class action cases, but there was no financial related settlements included in DOJ’s remedy proposal today. We heard that a trial against Apple for damages would soon follow the court’s ruling, and today the DOJ notes that the courts will hold a hearing on remedies on Aug. 9.

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Comments

  1. The requirement to link to other booksellers is one of the more absurd requests in this horrible decision. The DOJ clearly does not understand the publishing industry, and its proposed “remedies” are unduly harsh.

  2. Thomas Marble Peak - 11 years ago

    sorry americans but your government is a real piece of work. time to clean house.

  3. Scott D. Brown (@hwdyb) - 11 years ago

    Yeah for government and amazon!! good job lobbyist! /sarcasm
    This is pathetic. :(

  4. I hope Apple just kicks the Apps out of the store for breaching there rules on duplicating functionality already there… ;) Then they can go sell there books on there own phones… ;)

  5. dwerg85 - 11 years ago

    >>-Must “refrain for five years from entering new e-book distribution contracts”

    Is the DOJ actively trying to drive the iBook store out of existence?

  6. Barry Kushner - 11 years ago

    Wow, combine this with Obama not overturning the ITC ban on iphone 4 and ipad 2 and you have some incentive to bring back the Republicans.

    • Ezhik - 11 years ago

      Man, basing your political opinions on how well the government treats one company isn’t very clever.

      • theyouthpastor - 11 years ago

        Gibson USA, Solyndra, Chevrolet? All overreaching. I wonder when the EPA will investigate my 13 year old’s lawn mowing business?

  7. ifunography - 11 years ago

    – Must “refrain for five years from entering new e-book distribution contracts”

    That’s just plain stupid any way you look at it.

  8. Steve Grenier - 11 years ago

    “Must not enter contracts for music, movies, TV, or games, that will increase prices for competitors” Uh, what?

  9. About the only thing I could see as being reasonable is to allow apps like Kindle to have a link to the amazon store. I mean, the comics apps have built-in stores. Seems like the same thing. Everything else is just an attempt by the government to dig their hooks into a private sector company. The gross overreach here is obvious.

Author

Avatar for Jordan Kahn Jordan Kahn

Jordan writes about all things Apple as Senior Editor of 9to5Mac, & contributes to 9to5Google, 9to5Toys, & Electrek.co. He also co-authors 9to5Mac’s Logic Pros series.