Quote:
Originally Posted by crossi
THe settlement didn't say "any" book it said Amazon "must show a profit overall for all the books it sells from that publisher’s catalogue". The publisher will know how much they paid Amazon in that month or year. All they need to know is how much of Amazon's income came from that publisher's ebooks in that period.
|
They don't have the right to demand that information. Amazon, like any other store, is under no requirement to tell its suppliers how profitable they've been for it.
It's possible they'll try to negotiate contracts that will require that kind of info... but Amazon isn't required to sign any contracts with them. If Amazon decides not to turn over that data, they may have a choice of go without, or don't sell on Amazon.
I could see a court ordering Amazon to play along--but I can't see how that'd happen here, since Amazon isn't a party in the case, as much as the Price-fix Six would like to claim otherwise. I can't figure out how the court plans on insisting vendors can't sell below cost, or can't sell lower than a certain percentage below retail price, since the vendors aren't subject to the lawsuit.
If Coke and Pepsi decided too many sodas are being stolen from Walmart, and made a plan to use poisonous materials in their 12-pack boxes (which is totally neutralized by a spray that the register clerks all have), and got tried for attempted murder... the resulting lawsuit won't be able to say "you can't use poison paper anymore, but Walmart has to install locked soda cases to prevent thefts."
If the BPHs think Amazon is not good for the future of books...
nobody's making them sell through Amazon. Any future unhappiness with the way Amazon conducts its business can be met by
not selling through Amazon, rather than requiring Amazon change its business practices. If enough publishers pull away, they'll have to change their strategy.
(Note: I don't think Amazon is "the good guys" in this; I despise their homophobic policies and lack of transparency about standards, and several other aspects of their ebook business. However, Amazon's not the company on trial, and being sleazy, greedy, and dismissive of complaints are not crimes in the US business world.)