The US Department of Justice and 33 State Attorneys General have proposed remedies to address Apple's price-fixing in the e-book market. In early July, a court found the company conspired to fix the prices of e-books in the US, in a case brought by the DoJ and AGs.
The department’s proposal, if approved by the court, will require Apple to terminate its existing agreements with the five major publishers with which it conspired – Hachette, HarperCollins, Holtzbrinck (Macmillan), Penguin and Simon & Schuster – and to refrain for five years from entering new e-book distribution contracts which would restrain Apple from competing on price. Apple will be prohibited from again serving as a conduit of information among the conspiring publishers or from retaliating against publishers for refusing to sell e-books on agency terms.
In addition, Apple would be prohibited from entering into agreements with suppliers of e-books, music, movies, TV shows or other content that are likely to increase the prices at which Apple’s competitor retailers may sell that content. To reset competition to the conditions that existed before the conspiracy, Apple must also for two years allow other e-book retailers like Amazon and Barnes & Noble to provide links from their e-book apps to their e-bookstores, allowing consumers who purchase and read e-books on their iPads and iPhones easily to compare Apple’s prices with those of its competitors.
A court-appointed external monitor would monitor the company's compliance with the remedies. A court hearing scheduled for 09 August will hear the proposal.
