Apple ebook settlement with EU will allow Amazon to set prices
Apple and four other ebook 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 ebook 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 ebook 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 ebook retailers, such as Amazon, from setting their own prices for ebooks 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
