Apple

Apple fights back to DOJ’s antitrust charges

After nearly two days since the Department of Justice filled the motion against Apple and other five major publishers concerning the alleged e-book pricing, the Cupertino Company decided to bring its counterpart to the accusations.

The lawsuit motion filled by the Department of Justice accused Apple Inc. to conspire along with five publishers, namely Hachette SA, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin and Simon & Schuster against Amazon’s pricing in the e-book market.

Apple’s spokesman, Tom Neumayr retorted yesterday on evening on the antitrust charges:

“The DOJ’s accusation of collusion against Apple is simply not true. The launch of the iBookstore in 2010 fostered innovation and competition, breaking Amazon’s monopolistic grip on the publishing industry. Since then customers have benefited from eBooks that are more interactive and engaging. Just as we’ve allowed developers to set prices on the App Store, publishers set prices on the iBookstore.”

Macmillan and Penguin brought a similar answer to the charges, while the rest of the publishers didn’t wait long after the motion was filled and agreed with DOJ’s settlements on Wednesday morning.

Source: 9to5MAc

Apple

Apple and five major publishers sued by DOJ over e-book price fixing

The U.S. Government has advanced a motion to Apple Inc. and to the publishers Hachette SA, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin and Simon & Schuster over alleged e-book pricing. The U.S. Department of Justice prepared the lawsuit since yesterday, when the decisions were still in counsel.

Reuters’ sources informed that DOJ was investigating Apple’s deals with the publishers, deals that were calculating the e-book prices such as to trade 30 percent cut of sales to Apple.

Apple and Macmillan denied the accusation that they were raising e-book prices and, thus, refused to participate to settlement arguments with the Department of Justice, which is now preparing to sue the companies.

Anyway, DOJ’s door is still open to discussions, though Apple considers its e-book pricing honest. The U.S. Government may sue Apple any minute from now and what I mostly fear is not that the Cupertino Company will not get through the lawsuit, but whether or not this lawsuit will stain its sleek image.

Source: Bloomberg