DOJ demands Apple terminate publisher deals and rival e-bookstore restrictions

[OhioChick]

Source: Engadget.com

Aug 2nd, 2013 at 10:48 AM



In a decisive move in the legal battle surrounding Apple's fishy e-book pricing practices, the US Department of Justice has issued a proposed remedy aimed at leveling the playing field. The terms of the proposal, which requires approval by the court, call for an end to Apple's deals with major publishing houses, as well as allowing rival e-book apps, like Amazon's, to link to their own online bookstores. The announcement is hardly surprising, considering that it comes just a few weeks after US District Judge Denise Cote ruled that Apple had conspired to bump up the retail prices of e-books. In the official brief, Assistant Attorney General Bill Baer said, "Under the department's proposed order, Apple's illegal conduct will cease and Apple and its senior executives will be prevented from conspiring to thwart competition in the future."

You can read the release in full after the break.

Read more: http://www.engadget.com/2013/08/02/doj-demands-apple-terminate-publisher-deals-and-rival-restrictions/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=feedly

[ChromeFoundry]

1. Did Apple forget to pay off the DOJ????

I'm sure they will appeal this...

Apple would never do something this evil!

Nor would they take 30% of the profits for themselves... More

[TreasonousBastard]

2. But Amazon's selling at a loss to put competitors out of business is OK...

I understand that price fixing is an illegal restraint of trade, but now Amazon has an even better shot at putting your local shops, bookstores, and everything else out of business.

I do not for the life of me understand how anyone who claims to be too good to shop at Wal-Mart runs drooling to Amazon bragging about the deals.

[ChromeFoundry]

4. Apple dictating how a third-party app must function...

by disallowing alternative pricing links, is the issue, not the actual price of the e-book.

Apple made it so apps can only display the iTunes price and link...
Is this any different than Microsoft not allowing you to look at any apple.com from Internet Explorer.. and not allowing any other browser to be installed on the OS? Why not make it so your car can only buy gasoline from BP? Why people continue to put Apple on a pedestal for innovation they did not create, and only cherry-picked and polished, is beyond me.

If you want to take a shot at Amazon for losing money for offering discounted pricing, I guess we'd have to include Target, General Motors, Verizon, Giant Eagles Get-Go, Home Depot.. hell, every store that has ever offered a sale or promotion to increase sales. Isn't that just about everything that is not already a monopoly?

[TreasonousBastard]

5. Discounts are not an issue with Amazon, it's predatory pricing...

which is also illegal, but rarely prosecuted. Beyond pricing, which to them is just the pregame fun, they offered to run Borders' servers for ebusiness in return for a brick and mortar presence, and Borders promptly went out of business.
They ran Netflix's servers and shortly after they announced Amazon's movie service, Netflix mysteriously had downtime and outages. Coincidence? Wal-Mart hasn't stooped so low.

I'm not sure how I feel about Apple. I have Cablevision with no expectation of getting Time-Warner's channel lineup. (Which at the moment is probably a good thing) I can't even get the Cooking Channel because they don't carry it. What Apple did is far less egregious because, unlike cable around here, there are alternatives to an app on your iphone.

[RudynJack]

8. Don't all retailers

sell some items at a loss to build business? What evidence is there that Amazon does so specifically to put other retailers out of business?

[TreasonousBastard]

9. Price competion is normal, but...

Amazon goes beyond the usual "loss leader" concept and isn't just cutting its own prices, but forcing producers to cut theirs to below cost. But, yes, it is difficult to pull out cases of predatory pricing vs normal competition, so there are hardly ever any prosecutions.

In the Amazon vs. McMillan tossup, Amazon decided all ebooks should be 10 bucks. McMillan said sell them for anything you want, but we want at least 13 bucks per book. Amazon then pulled the "buy" button from all McMillan products, and Mcmillan pulled all ebooks from Amazon. They have since made up but it's not a love affair.

Now, Target can sell a blender for $5, but it still has to pay $10 to Hamilton Beach unless it's a manufacturer sponsored sale, and those don't last forever. Amazon, however, is dictating prices to the publishers and they have no say in the matter but just have to put up with it.

Granted that all major retailers often force producers to cut prices or their lines won't be carried, but who here thinks the Wal-Mart model is a good thing?

Beyond pricing is the Borders story I never get tired of telling. Borders was in deep trouble and Amazon essentially agreed to run its e-biz in return for having Borders as its brick&mortar presence. A breath of fresh air for a month or two until Borders' e-biz disappeared while all the details of the store biz was now in the hands of Amazon. And they went under in record time.

[RudynJack]

10. You should tire of telling that

because it's not true.

http://www.seattlepi.com/business/article/Borders-shelving-Amazon-alliance-1231973.php

Borders came to Amazon - not the other way around. Amazon ran their e-biz for 6 years, ending in 2007. The Borders tried to do their OWN e-tail site, and did it poorly. A few years later, they went under.

Amazon did not do anything to Borders. Borders screwed themselves.

[PoliticAverse]

3. At what point do the Publishers just start selling ebooks solely from their own websites ? n/t

[daleo]

6. They are afraid it will cannibalize their print book business

I think that paralyzes their e book strategies. Plus, they may be worried that people will continue shopping for e books at Amazon anyway, because of its larger selection, including independently published books.

Full disclosure compels me to add that my wife's science fiction/romance "Kati of Terra" series is available on Amazon, at very reasonable prices and its progressive themes would be a great fit for DUers.

[pinto]

7. Additional comments in an earlier thread (locked as an LBN dupe) here -

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014555809