(6 September 2103) Judge Denise Cote has signed a court that requires Apple to modify its existing agreements with the five major publishers with which it conspired – Hachette Book Group (USA), HarperCollins Publishers L.L.C., Holtzbrinck Publishers LLC, which does business as Macmillan, Penguin Group (USA) Inc. and Simon & Schuster Inc. – to allow retail price competition and to eliminate the most favored nation (MFN) pricing clauses that led to higher e-book prices. Apple is prohibited from serving as a conduit of information among the conspiring publishers or from retaliating against publishers for refusing to sell e-books on agency terms. Apple is also prohibited from entering into agreements with e-books publishers that are likely to increase the prices at which Apple’s competitor retailers may sell that content.
Additionally, the court has decided to appoint an external monitor to ensure that Apple’s internal antitrust compliance policies will be sufficient to catch future anticompetitive activities before they result in harm to consumers.
Read the full statement here.
