Quote:
Originally Posted by CommonReader
After all, using your very argument the agency 6 agreement should be perfectly legal as well.
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The Price fix six *secretely* coordinated to *raise* retail prices and prevent retailers from competing. They are in court for the conspiracy, not for the agency pricing.
Waterstone's is openly announcing they will be fronting Amazon's ebookstore in return for a commission. Given that Waterstone's ebook share *before* the deal was, apparently, insignificant there is no real *ebook* competition change.
Not every corporate deal is competition sensitive.
(Of course, you can always go ask a UK solicitor for a legal opinion if those facts aren't compelling enough.
)
Edit: In the past few months, the UK ebook market has seen Google and Sony set up shop and B&N announce they are going to follow suit. With the big sharks moving in, competition is going to fiercer and it is inevitable that the smaller players are going to get squeezed out. Waterstone's chose to get out while the getting is good. I still see no reason to doubt their judgment.