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The DOJ made their position clear. The publishers would not have been able to impose agency pricing if they didn't collude. An individual publisher would have put themselves at a price disadvantage. It's a perfectly reasonable settlement to reset the clock and have them try again without colluding.
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Its important to realize that while there is substantial evidence in favor of collusion, there is also substantial evidence AGAINST collusion. That's why we will have a trial.
The business argument in favor of the publishers imposing agency pricing has never been refuted in this forum , and is likely to be viable two years from now. I'm betting that each of the Settling 3 are going to be joining Random House and the the two defendant publishers into going for full on agency pricing after 2 years, particularly if Amazon is even more dominant then. Its a matter not of short term price disadvantage , but of long term survival.