Apple e-book settlement with EU will allow Amazon to set prices
Apple and four other e-book publishers have settled an antitrust battle with the European Union.
After a year of investigations into allegations of cartel price-fixing, the European Commission has decided to accept commitments to alter e-book pricing practices from Harper Collins, Hachette Livre, Simon & Schuster, Penguin, Macmillan and Apple.
The Commission concluded that an infringement had very possibly taken place when the publishers together with Apple jointly switched to an agency sales model to set e-book prices.
Despite this, the competition watchdog decided not to impose fines, instead opting to accept promises from the companies that they will terminate the current agency agreements and, for a period of two years, will not hamper e-book retailers, such as Amazon, from setting their own prices for e-books or from offering discounts and promotions.
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http://www.macworld.com/article/2020203/apple-ebook-settlement-with-eu-will-allow-amazon-to-set-prices.html
