US Goes Back to Publishers on Prices

Two years after three major book publishers settled a major civil antitrust lawsuit with the federal government, the Justice Department has gone back to the publishers asking about any recent pricing discussions they may have had with others in the industry, say people familiar with the situation.

The inquiries, made in recent weeks by letter to Lagardere SCA's Hachette Book Group, CBS's Simon & Schuster and News Corp's HarperCollins Publishers, have created anxiety in the publishing industry.

The inquiries reopened a sensitive and costly issue that publishers thought they had resolved, and raised the possibility of additional constraints on how they do business. The department's latest move comes as Amazon is dominating sales of both print books online and e-books in large part through its discounting strategy.

The first of the publishers to renegotiate contract terms is Hachette, which is currently caught up in a bitter dispute with Amazon.com Inc. over e-book terms. As a result of the dispute, Amazon has delayed shipments of Hachette books and blocked preorders of new titles.

Precise terms being discussed aren't known, although Amazon is seeking a higher split of e-book prices, people familiar with the situation said. The significance of the Justice Department's latest move isn't clear. The inquiries don't necessarily mean any legal action is imminent or even likely, a person familiar with the situation said.

The three publishers the Justice Department has contacted are the ones who first settled the lawsuit. Two other publishers also named in the suit settled later. Apple went to trial, was found guilty of collusion and said it would appeal.