Macmillan will end e-book discounting ban in price-fixing settlement
The company that publishes books under the Macmillan imprint has agreed to allow discounting of its electronic books as part of a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice over price-fixing in the fast-growing e-book market.
Under the terms of the proposed settlement, Holtzbrinck Publishers will immediately lift discounting restrictions and will be prohibited from entering into new agreements with similar restrictions until December 2014, the Department of Justice said Friday.
The settlement also requires Macmillan to provide advance notification to the Justice Department of any e-book ventures it plans to undertake jointly with other publishers and regularly report to the department on any communications it has with other publishers. The company will also be banned for five years from entering any "most favored nation" provision that could undermine the effectiveness of the settlement, the DOJ said.
Background
The settlement is the latest reached by the Department of Justice as part of a price-fixing investigation into Apple's electronic books store that was launched in April 2012. The company previously settled with Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins Publishers, Penguin Group, and Simon & Schuster.
To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
http://www.macworld.com/article/2027746/macmillan-will-end-ebook-discounting-ban-in-pricefixing-settlement.html
