Courtesy ArsTechnica:
by Cyrus Farivar
The three major publishing houses charged with e-book price-fixing have reached a settlement collectively worth $69 million with nearly all state attorneys general, the District of Columbia, and some American territories. Under the agreement, which was announced late Wednesday and still must be approved by the court, the Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins, and Simon & Schuster will award consumers monetary compensation if they purchased e-books from those publishing companies between April 1, 2010 and May 21, 2012.
The three publishing giants also agree for the next two years to terminate their existing “agency model” deals in which publishers set the retail price (and distributors take a percentage), rather than allowing distributors to buy the books at a set price and then charge whatever they want. That likely means that e-book prices should fall; Amazon, in particular, had subsidized e-book prices to help drive sales of Kindles, and publishers feared having consumer price expectations set too low.
Various state attorneys general have released statements outlining exactly how much those residents will receive in compensation: Illinoisans will get $2.7 million, Utahns $630,000, and Floridians will cash in to the tune of $4.4 million.
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by Cyrus Farivar
The three major publishing houses charged with e-book price-fixing have reached a settlement collectively worth $69 million with nearly all state attorneys general, the District of Columbia, and some American territories. Under the agreement, which was announced late Wednesday and still must be approved by the court, the Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins, and Simon & Schuster will award consumers monetary compensation if they purchased e-books from those publishing companies between April 1, 2010 and May 21, 2012.
The three publishing giants also agree for the next two years to terminate their existing “agency model” deals in which publishers set the retail price (and distributors take a percentage), rather than allowing distributors to buy the books at a set price and then charge whatever they want. That likely means that e-book prices should fall; Amazon, in particular, had subsidized e-book prices to help drive sales of Kindles, and publishers feared having consumer price expectations set too low.
Various state attorneys general have released statements outlining exactly how much those residents will receive in compensation: Illinoisans will get $2.7 million, Utahns $630,000, and Floridians will cash in to the tune of $4.4 million.
MORE