Penguin settles with US Justice Department on ebook price fixing

by Public Libraries on December 18, 2012

Penguin said today that it had reached a settlement with the US Justice Department in the ebook price fixing case brought against the company.  The decision to settle was heavily influenced by the planned merger of Penguin and Random House.
Penguin maintains that it did nothing wrong when it entered into agency pricing agreements with Amazon and other retailers.  The company contends that the agency pricing model increases competition and benefits consumers and authors.
Things are starting to get pretty lonely for Apple and Macmillan.  The US Justice Department originally sued five book publishers and Apple over ebook price fixing.  Four of the publishers have now settled, leaving Apple and Macmillan the only remaining two defendants in the case.