U.S. Warns Apple, Publishers on E-Book Pricing • Hacker News Board

Re: U.S. Warns Apple, Publishers on E-Book Pricing

#21

Post by Cadsby » Thu, Mar 08, 2012, 7:56 PM UTC

jamesaguilar wrote: post #15

gwright wrote: post #11

I'm having a hard time understanding exactly what actions are under suspicion. The actual price of the books isn't being established by either the agency or the wholesale model. A little googling at the DOJ indicates that the Sherman act prohibits adoption of "a standard formula for computing prices". In the case of the agency model it would seem like a standard formula is being established for the distribution servi…

IANAL, but the problem is when Apple says that publishers must prevent Apple's rivals from selling the books for less. Without that, the agency model is fine, but when Apple and the publishers conspire to prevent undercutting, that's tantamount to conspiring to raise prices.

Amazon does the same thing.

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/26/when-it-comes-to-co...

Re: U.S. Warns Apple, Publishers on E-Book Pricing

#22

Post by jamesaguilar » Thu, Mar 08, 2012, 9:41 PM UTC

Cadsby wrote: post #21

jamesaguilar wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IANAL, but the problem is when Apple says that publishers must prevent Apple's rivals from selling the books for less. Without that, the agency model is fine, but when Apple and the publishers conspire to prevent undercutting, that's tantamount to conspiring to raise prices.

Amazon does the same thing. http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/26/when-it-comes-to-co...

Interesting. Maybe the problem is with the fact that the books tend to cost more on Apple's setup combined with the MFN clause? I don't think that the government could sue Amazon for conspiring to raise prices since it has a public and prolific history of trying to reduce them. It's also telling that Amazon tried to force publishers to do things they don't want to do, which is not like a conspiracy, whereas Apple is giving them what they want, which is.

But in the end, IANAL so I can't give you a definitive answer. I'm just speculating, same as everyone else on this thread. ;)

Re: U.S. Warns Apple, Publishers on E-Book Pricing

#23

Post by nicholaides » Fri, Mar 09, 2012, 7:29 PM UTC

jamesaguilar wrote: post #16

nicholaides wrote: post #5

First paragraph: "... according to people familiar with the matter" Good thing they didn't report what people unfamiliar with the matter said.

It's the standard euphemism for anonymous sources. It seems fine to me. What is your problem with it?

I didn't realize that. I assumed it was a signal that the sources weren't reliable/knowledgeable. I learned something new today, thanks.