By Ben Fox Rubin
A group of U.S. attorneys general reached a broad antitrust
settlement for $69 million with three major book publishers.
The settlement was announced in separate releases by both the
Connecticut and Maryland attorneys general.
The U.S. hit Apple Inc. (AAPL) and five of the nation's largest
publishers with the lawsuit in April, alleging they conspired to
raise prices in the fast-growing e-book market.
Three of those publishers--Lagardere SCA's (MMB.FR) Hachette
Book Group, News Corp.'s (NWSA, NWS, NWS.AU) HarperCollins
Publishers LLC and CBS Corp.'s (CBS, CBSA) Simon & Schuster
Inc.--had already agreed to settle the suit. News Corp. also owns
Dow Jones & Co., publisher of this newswire, and The Wall
Street Journal.
The lawsuit, filed by the Justice Department in Manhattan
federal court, 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
guaranteed a 30% commission on each e-book sold.
Those three publishers agreed to terminate their agreements with
Apple regarding e-books and refrain from limiting any retailer's
ability to set e-book prices for two years. That could help
Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) resume deep discounts on new e-books.
The settlement, which is awaiting court approval, also includes
about $7.5 million to the states for fees and costs.
Also named in the suit are Pearson PLC's (PSO, PSON.LN) Penguin
Group USA and Macmillan, a unit of Verlagsgruppe Georg von
Holtzbrinck GmbH.
Write to Ben Fox Rubin at ben.rubin@dowjones.com
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