The lawsuit, filed in New York court, is aimed at Apple and Hachette SA, Macmillan, Penguin and Simon & Schuster, according to Bloomberg. With the exception of Apple and Penguin and Macmillan, the rest of the companies have reached a settlement.
Apple and Macmillan, owned by the German publishing house Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck GmbH, have refused to enter into negotiations with the US Department of Justice, arguing that the price agreements promoted competition in the e-book market. Amazon.com, according to the agency. Penguin is also expected to fight for justice in court.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the appeal of the American authorities concerns five publishing houses, the four mentioned above, and HarperCollins, who, according to the American newspaper, has started talks with Simon & Schuster and Hachette Book Group to conclude in agreement with the authorities.
The lawsuit was widely publicized after reports surfaced last month that government lawyers were considering the terms of Apple's publishers' agreements with the latter, which set a lower limit on retail prices for books. The deals were signed before the iPad hit the market in April 2010 and gave publishers the power to set prices with Apple guaranteeing 30% of the retail price.
Prior to the deal, retailers such as Amazon bought books at wholesale prices and could sell them at a discount. Amazon was forced to accept the new terms when publishers threatened to boycott it if it did not agree with the new model.
Source: AMPE