DOJ files suit against Apple, Big Five

As has been hinted at for weeks, the Department of Justice has filed a civil suit against Apple and the so-called “Big Five” publishers: Hachette SA, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin and Simon & Schuster.  Random House did not initially sign on to the ageny model, so it is not a part of the U.S. lawsuit. The DOJ has alleged collusion and price-fixing over the agency pricing model. Here’s a link to the DOJ filing. The level of detail in the filing is amazing and very muh at odds with rumors that the DOJ “had no evidence of any wrongdoing.”

According to this article from Bloomberg, Hachette, Simon & Shuster, and Harper Collins are rumored to have settled with the DOJ. The article further states that Penguin intends to fight.

In Macmillan’s response, CEO John Sargent says that they will fight the suit.

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