Amazon, a Longtime E-Book Discounter, Is Accused of Driving Up the Price of E-Books

The law firm Hagens Berman filed a lawsuit in a federal district court in New York alleges that a deal between Amazon and five major book publishers has led to higher e-book prices for all consumers, because it prevents rival retailers from selling any of these publishers’ e-books at a lower price than on Amazon. The lawsuit said Amazon charges high commissions and other costs to publishers, “which in turn significantly increases the retail price of the e-books they sell on Amazon.com.” As a result of the deal with the five big publishers, the price they charge on Amazon also has to be the price they charge everywhere else. Calling it a “conspiracy to fix the retail price of e-books,” the suit alleges that the deal between Amazon and the five publishers—which it said account for 80% of all books sold in the US—violates antitrust law.

The five publishers cited in the lawsuit are HarperCollins Publishers, which is owned by News Corp.; Lagardère SCA’s Hachette Book Group; Penguin Random House, a unit of closely held German media company Bertelsmann SE; Simon & Schuster, the book publishing arm of ViacomCBS Inc., and Macmillan. (Penguin Random House has agreed to acquire Simon & Schuster, pending regulatory approval.)