Justice Department preparing Apple iBooks antitrust lawsuit

The Justice Department is reportedly preparing to go after Apple, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, Penguin, Macmillan and HarperCollins following its investigation into alleged e-book price-rigging. The case centers around a deal to switch to agency pricing, where the vendor takes a 30 percent cut of each sale, rather than the wholesale model that gives publishers more flexibility to reduce prices or even sell e-books at a loss. Some publishers are now trying to agree on a new policy in an effort to stave off the kind of federal suit that nobody wants to wear.

Justice Department preparing Apple iBooks antitrust lawsuit originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 08 Mar 2012 05:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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