Explainer: “Bracing for Another E-book Price-Fixing Case”

From an Article by Andrew Albanese, Publishers Weekly:

For industry observers, there was a feeling of déjà vu on January 14 when a prominent class-action law firm announced it had filed suit over alleged price-fixing in the e-book market—the second e-book price-fixing suit in a decade. What to make of this new lawsuit? PW has prepared an explainer.

The suit is being brought against Amazon on behalf of three named plaintiffs and a potential class of consumers who bought e-books published by the Big Five “through a retail platform that competes with Amazon at a price inflated by Amazon and its Co-conspirator Publishers’ price restraint.” The suit was filed by Seattle-based firm Hagens Berman, which filed the first e-book price-fixing lawsuit against Apple and five of the then–Big Six publishers in August 2011. And we remember how that turned out: with a federal antirust suit and claims from 33 states. The publishers ended up settling all claims for a total of $166 million in consumer credits. Apple lost at trial a year later and paid out a $450 million settlement.

Read the Complete Article (approx. 1250 words)

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