Apple should end its existing e-book agreements with five major publishers and sign no new price-setting distribution contracts for five years under remedies for e-book price fixing proposed by the U.S. Department of Justice and 33 state attorneys general.
The company that publishes books under the Macmillan imprint has agreed to allow discounting of its electronic books as part of a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice over price-fixing in the fast-growing e-book market.
Penguin Group has become the latest book publisher to reach a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice in a lawsuit that alleges that Apple and five publishers had conspired to raise e-book prices.
A Seattle law firm has targeted Apple in an e-book price-fixing lawsuit partly because of the company's dominance in smartphone and tablet sales, the firm's managing director said.