Sarah Mirando  |  May 23, 2013

Category: Legal News

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Penguin Announces $75M E-Book Pricing Class Action Settlement

By Matt O’Donnell

 

Penguin Books

UPDATE: Details on how to file a claim for the Penguin/Macmillan E-Book Class Action Settlement are up!

 

Penguin, the last remaining defendant to settle state and consumer lawsuits accusing it of driving up the price of e-books, has finally reached a class action lawsuit settlement. The book publisher announced yesterday it will pay $75 million to resolve claims it conspired with Apple and other publishers to fix and raise the prices of electronic books.

The Penguin settlement marks the end to a massive litigation involving 33 state attorneys general as well as a class action lawsuit filed by consumers who accuse the book publishers of violating antitrust laws and causing consumers to overpay for e-books. Macmillan and Penguin held out in settling their portion of the case, while the remaining book publisher defendants — Simon and Schuster, HarperCollins, Penguin and Hachette – reached settlements last year.


Apple Inc. is scheduled to go to trial in June.

Apple and the five book publishers have faced investigations by the U.S. Department of Justice and state AG’s for several years over how they price and sell digital books.

Consumers launched a class action lawsuit against the companies after the DOJ announced it had uncovered an alleged conspiracy between the publishers and Apple to set prices for e-books and limit the discounts retailers could give. This caused consumers to pay “tens of millions” of dollars more for e-books and allegedly drove out competitors like Amazon’s Kindle e-reader, according to the Justice Department.

All of the book publishers have reached settlements with the DOJ, but the Penguin settlement is by far the largest. HarperCollins, Hachette and Simon & Schuster settled together for $69 million, while Macmillan agreed to a $20 million settlement last month.

Under the proposed settlement, Penguin will pay $75 million to consumers represented by 33 states’ attorneys general. A court must still approve the settlement before consumers see any money.

The case is In Re: Electronic Books Antitrust Litigation, Case No. 11-02293, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York.

 

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