Apple sued over e-book pricing

The US department of justice has accused Apple and six publishers of colluding to raise e-book price

By Martha Gill Published 12 April 2012

Apple: colluding to raise prices? Getty images

The US Department of Justice is suing Apple and major book publishers over e-book pricing.

The companies involved include Apple and Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Simon and Schuster and Penguin. They have been accused of colluding to increase the price of e-books.

The complaint refers to “private dining rooms of upscale Manhattan restaurants” where the executives of the various companies met to agree on pricing.

The lawsuit comes a day after Apple was valued at over $600bn.

The companies have defended the “agency model” - where publishers, rather than sellers, set the prices of e-books.

Electronic books were originally sold according to the same formula as physical books, with publishers giving a wholesale price, and retailers then deciding on selling price.

An agency model has now been adopted, under which publishers are in control of prices and the agency gets a cut of the profits.

The new model was seen by Amazon as an aggressive move, as it prevents Amazon dominating the e-book market.

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Tags: Apple sued over e-book pricing Six publishers and Apple sued

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1 comment

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