PriceRigging
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E-book publishers are now being investigated in the US, not just Europe
Just two days after the European Commission announced that it was investigating Apple and major international publishers for possible e-book price fixing, the US Justice Department has made it clear that it's also launching a probe into the possibility of "anticompetitive practices involving e-book sales." Although Justice Department officials didn't name which companies they're looking into, it's very likely that they're focusing on the same agreements between publishers and the major e-book platform owners -- either Apple or Amazon or both.
Apple and major publishers investigated for e-book price fixing in Europe
The European Commission has opened a formal antitrust investigation into some of the world's largest publishers following a series of unannounced inspections back in March. Hachette Libre, Harper Collins, Simon & Schuster, Penguin and the German owner of Macmillan are all suspected of "anti-competitive practices" in the way they've sold e-books in Europe, "possibly with the help of Apple." Read on for the full press release.
