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This time it is the Apple that is standing in the position of the accused. It has been accused by the US Department of Justice that Apple has colluded with some of the top names in the publishing industry in fabricating the prices of eBooks. The allies, who share the same accusation with Apple, are the publishing moguls like Hachette, Penguin, Macmillan, Harper Collins and Simon & Schuster. It was laid down by the US Department of Justice that the prices were deliberately kept too high. This also created an unnecessary competition within the publishing industry.
Apple’s take on this
Apple has laid down counter comments on this allegation that challenge US Justice Department’s claims as entirely untrue. Their take on this statement is that by means of an application, iBookstore in 2010, Apple attempted to break the illogical monopolistic grip of Amazon on the publishing industry. This firm statement is of none other than the Apple spokeswoman, Natalie Kerris.
They further commented on this that with the introduction iBookstore, the eBook readers have immensely benefited in the process as now the books are more interactive and engaging. Their comment on the pricing part of it is that just alike the liberty of the developers to set prices on the App Store, the pricing part of the iBootstore products is taken care of the respective publishers. Thus, it is evident that they tried to shake their shoulders off the case of enhanced price of eBooks on Apple Apps.
Penguin has also joined with Apple to raise voice in favor of these defensive statements. This heavy weight publisher puts up that the lengthy document of the US Justice Department has got nothing much substantial in it that can veer Apple and its allies from their defensive stance. Penguin further remarks that the document contains a great deal of material misstatements and omissions, which needs to be corrected at the court by none other than Apple and its associates in the trial.
The lawsuit against Apple and other convicted publishers
The lawsuit of the US Justice Department has put forward that the price addition on eBooks by $2 to $3 have cost the consumers more than $100 million in the past few years. It will further file a lawsuit in the New York City federal court against Apple, together with Hottzbrinck Publishers, operating as Macmillan and Penguin Group, the business identity of The Penguin Publishing Co. Ltd.
A separate lawsuit filed by Connecticut and Texas allied with Hachette and HarperCollins to claim a compensatory sum of $52 million for the readers. This was calculated by analyzing the number of states participating in the lawsuit against Apple and the number of books sold in each of the 15 US states, where eBook readers are majority. They have kept the scope open for other states to sign onto the agreement and other companies to join the bandwagon too.
The conclusion
While the claims of the US Department of Justice look quite substantial, Apple and its associates raised logical comments in their own defense too. Now, the fate of the lawsuit and further court proceedings will help us to get a clearer picture on the case.
About the author: Margaret is a blogger by profession. She loves writing on automotto and technology. Beside this she is fond of books. She recently did an article on Audi A7 price. These days she is busy in writing an article on andrew lauren.
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