Apple & book publishers may be sued for price fixing

[xtabber]

According to this article in the Wall Street Journal, the U.S. Department of Justice has told Apple and five of the largest book publishers that it plans to sue them for colluding to raise the prices consumers pay for ebooks.

[zridling]

I sure hope so. Bought a 2009 mass market ebook tonight for $14 frickin' dollars. Absolutely ridiculous, I don't care how they justify it. No printing costs, no delivery costs, and yet it costs more than twice the price of the paperback back then.

[40hz]

[attach]

[J-Mac]

^LOL!! Great pic 40hz!!

Thanks!

Jim

[Renegade]

A while back I'd posted about Apple and textbooks...

These companies really need to be taken down a notch. Monopolizing textbooks? WTF? Charging every student for every book?

Doesn't anyone remember when you got a book, and it had the names of a bunch of kids who had used it before you? That seemed to work ok. And the book was paid for once. Now they want to charge what?!? And fix prices while they're at it?

Education now is a joke. It's not remotely about academics anymore. It's all just "business". Shameful. Purely shameful.

The "free markets" are no longer free. Corporatism and fascism have taken over. Sigh... 

[IainB]

These companies really need to be taken down a notch.

Let me know how that works out.

[Carol Haynes]

I was looking at Apple TV the other day (out of curiosity) and was shocked to see a popular TV servies being sold for £39.99 (that's UK pounds). The BluRay version on Amazon was £6.99!!!

It's about time Apple was taken to court on price fixing in all areas and near monopoly status with iTunes the same as MS. The trouble is iTunes sets the standard and other eStores follow suit with stupid pricing. While we are at it Amazon should also walk the corridor of shame for book price fixing with Kindle!

[Renegade]

These companies really need to be taken down a notch.

Let me know how that works out.

I don't think it will... Until a heck of a lot more people start waking up.

[40hz]

These companies really need to be taken down a notch.

Let me know how that works out.

I don't think it will... Until a heck of a lot more people start waking up.

Bingo! 

[xtabber]

As threatened, the U.S. Department of Justice has just filed an antitrust lawsuit against Apple and five major publishing house for fixing the price of ebooks.

[IainB]

As threatened, the U.S. Department of Justice has just filed an antitrust lawsuit against Apple and five major publishing house for fixing the price of ebooks.

Well, I guess I should say "Hurrah for active consumer protection from government." I thought it was dead.

Much as I detest government intervention/regulation of market economies, that was probably the only way something was likely to be done to correct matters in this case. The consumers in the market did not seem to be organised/smart/awake enough to boycott - as @Renegade pointed out.
The publishers obviously had no scruples about using their monopoly/oligopoly position to milk their market for all it was worth, whilst they could. Classic self-serving Corporate psychopathic behaviour.

The thing about this kind of government intervention is that it only addresses the symptom - monopolistic practices. So, whilst we can all probably feel cheered by this particular result, the causal problem remains - i.e., the legal status of the corporate (psychopathic) person. So this type of ripoff will be able to recur ad infinitum, under different guises, and each time it recurs the consumers who have been ripped off (victimised) will probably never be given their money back. Suckers.
Now that's a failure of government.

[Renegade]

The thing about this kind of government intervention is that it only addresses the symptom - monopolistic practices. So, whilst we can all probably feel cheered by this particular result, the causal problem remains - i.e., the legal status of the corporate (psychopathic) person. So this type of ripoff will be able to recur ad infinitum, under different guises, and each time it recurs the consumers who have been ripped off (victimised) will probably never be given their money back. Suckers.
Now that's a failure of government.

+1

Sadly, but yes... +1

[IainB]

Wasn't that +2?