DOJ suing Apple over ebooks.

[mikaelalind]

John Sarget posted an open letter on Tor's blog.

[Synamon]

Originally Posted by mikaelalind

John Sarget posted an open letter on Tor's blog.

The only message I got from that is that the big publishers think they can control the book market by repressing ebooks. I think they'll find out they are wrong.

[Daithi]

According to CNN, "The DOJ is set to announce its lawsuit at noon." I'd like to see the details, and I'd like to see who settled. All the DOJ needs is one guy to settle and be willing to testify against the others to make their case on collusion.

Supposing Apple and the publishers lose, I wonder what the penalties will be.

[rhadin]

Originally Posted by teh603

Dollars to donuts, the real plaintiffs are Wal-Mart, B&N, and Target. They're the ones who lost when the agency model came out, because they could no longer discount products lower than an independent retailer.

Either way, the consumer loses.

Not quite sure how you come to this conclusion. The agency pricing only affects ebooks and assures that the ebookseller gets a profit. Why would Walmart, B&N, and Target be the losers in this scenario?

As for the consumer losing, that is questionable. Do we lose more with agency pricing or with an Amazon monopoly? I know we'd like to think with agency pricing, but that assumes that Amazon would never want to make a profit on ebooks and give a return to its shareholders.

[dbeman]

Originally Posted by mikaelalind

John Sarget posted an open letter on Tor's blog.

...and closed the page to comments from readers. Guess he doesn't value his opinion enough to allow others to challenge it.

[Sydney's Mom]

Originally Posted by mikaelalind

John Sarget posted an open letter on Tor's blog.

Yes, no collusion. 5 CEO's just made the same decision at the same time. Sorry, the logistics of how it happened are really difficult to explain without collusion, which is what was wrong. Price fixing is antitrust 101. I assume every business knows this - the company I work for is very, very, very careful not to talk about fees with competitors. Doesn't mean they don't know what competitors charge, but they don't talk about it.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by Daithi

Supposing Apple and the publishers lose, I wonder what the penalties will be.

An Act of Contrition and 13 Hail Amazons

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by John Sarget

When Macmillan changed to the agency model we did so knowing we would make less money on our e book business. We made the change to support an open and competitive market for the future, and it worked. We still believe in that future and we still believe the agency model is the only way to get there.

So I guess all that talk, back at the time, about doing it to keep ebooks from undervaluing BPH's hardcover releases (which is where they—at the time—recouped the biggest portion of their investment) was all horse-poop, huh? They took a hit for the good of everyone? Puh-lease.

[drofgnal]

According to USA Today the lawsuit if filed. No mention of publishers in the suit.

From WSJ:

The U.S. filed an antitrust lawsuit Wednesday against Apple Inc. AAPL -0.36% and five of the nation's largest publishers, alleging they conspired to limit competition for the pricing of e-books.

Read More

What is 'Agency Pricing'?
The lawsuit, filed in Manhattan federal court by the U.S. Department of Justice's Antitrust Division, alleges Apple and the publishers reached an agreement where retail price competition would cease, retail e-books prices would increase significantly and Apple would be guarantee a 30% "commission" on each e-book sold.

CBS Corp.'s CBSA +0.82% Simon & Schuster Inc., News Corp.'s NWSA +1.10% HarperCollins Publishers Inc. and Lagardere SCA's Hachette Book Group have all agreed to settle the lawsuit, according to court documents. As part of the agreement with the Justice Department, the settling publishers will terminate any agreement with Apple regarding the sale of e-books within seven days of a final judgment being entered in the case.

A press conference with U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder is scheduled for later Wednesday.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by drofgnal

According to USA Today the lawsuit if filed. No mention of publishers in the suit.

Apple Inc. (AAPL) and two publishers, Macmillan and Penguin, were accused by the U.S. Justice Department of conspiring to fix prices of digital books to undermine Amazon.com Inc.’s dominance of the industry.

Three other publishers, CBS Corp. (CBS)’s Simon & Schuster, Lagardère SCA’s Hachette Book Group and News Corp. (NWSA)’s HarperCollins, also named in the government’s antitrust lawsuit, settled their cases, according to court filings.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-0...ms-settle.html

[John F]

Originally Posted by Daithi

...

Supposing Apple and the publishers lose, I wonder what the penalties will be.

Anyone who bought a big 6 ebook will get a coupon good for $0.49 off their next purchase of a Big 6 ebook.*



* The ebook must have a price of $20.09 or higher at time of checkout. No other coupons/giftcards/promotions be may used in conjuncture with this offer. The purchasers must provide their email, phone, and home address for future marketing/spamming purposes.

[drofgnal]

All publishers settled. Very interesting....I know settlement usually comes with the premise of no implied guilt, but...

[John F]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

So I guess all that talk, back at the time, about doing it to keep ebooks from undervaluing BPH's hardcover releases (which is where they—at the time—recouped the biggest portion of their investment) was all horse-poop, huh? They took a hit for the good of everyone? Puh-lease.

This is an open letter to the "authors, illustrators and agents:". There is separate letter for "stock holders", and another letter for "readers".

[fjtorres]

The three BPHs that have agreed to "settle" have agreed to nothing meaningful.
All they are doing is not contesting the terms and they agreed to terminate all contracts with Apple seven days after final judgment is rendered.

From WSJ:

Simon & Schuster Inc., HarperCollins Publishers Inc. and Hachette Book Group have all agreed to settle the lawsuit, according to court documents. As part of the agreement with the Justice Department, the settling publishers will terminate any agreement with Apple regarding the sale of e-books within seven days of a final judgment being entered in the case.

So it is business as usual until the case is adjudicated and appealed to SCOTUS.
Roughly circa 2025...

Big. Frakking. Deal.
Not even an injunction?
Yawn.

[djulian]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

So I guess all that talk, back at the time, about doing it to keep ebooks from undervaluing BPH's hardcover releases (which is where they—at the time—recouped the biggest portion of their investment) was all horse-poop, huh? They took a hit for the good of everyone? Puh-lease.

Don't you realize? It's all for your good if you have to pay twice as much for an ebook because you'll really value your ebooks!