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Originally Posted by DiapDealer
The problem lies with the fact that many believe there would have been no way any individual publishing house would have been able to get retailers to accept an agency pricing contract with them....
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My guess is that's the DoJ's reason for requiring a renegotiation of the contracts.
However, it should be noted that not all the publishers switched at the same time; notably, Random House successfully negotiated agency pricing much later than the others.
Further, Amazon targeted Macmillan during the process, and pulled their books -- and only their books -- in a failed attempt to exert pressure during negotiations.
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Originally Posted by DiapDealer
Surely a "legal" advantage can be voided if it was gained illegally?
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The DoJ can request this as part of the settlement (tho' the judge does not need to sign off on it).
The problem is that the remedy will wind up harming competition, since it's essentially handing Amazon the ebook market on a silver platter. That's contrary to the purpose of the antitrust laws, which ought to be about fostering competition rather than "demanding the lowest prices for the consumer," by any means available.