E-book Price Fixing | featured news

After a Justice Department investigation into e-book price-fixing, the cost of buying an e-book was supposed to plunge, but sales of e-readers and the content for them have stalled.

Cheaper e-books from three publishers could return within one to three months, in the wake of a judge's approval this week of the antitrust settlement between the publishers and the Justice Department.

Three major U.S. e-book publishers have agreed to a deal that will see them pay a significant sum for alleged e-book price-fixing. Connecticut State Attorney General George Jepsen yesterday announced that he, "along with 54 attorneys general in other states, districts, and U.S. territories," have signed a $69 million deal with Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins Publishers, and Simon & Schuster (which is owned by CBS, the same company that publishes CNET) to settle antitrust claims over an alleged conspiracy to artificially inflate e-book prices.

Barnes & Noble told the U.S. Justice Department that a proposed price-fixing settlement with several major book publishers will hurt the company and consumers.

The company denies that it conspired with book publishers to raise e-book prices to give Apple’s new iPad a boost, and accuses the government of siding with Amazon.

The U.S. Justice Department has warned Apple Inc. and five top book publishers that lawsuits over alleged e-book price fixing might be in the offing, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.