DOJ sues over eBook pricing

A New York Times blog, Media Decoder, writes that the Justice Department has sued Apple, Inc. and three eBook publishers over pricing.

Three publishers that were investigated — Hachette Book Group, Simon & Schuster and HarperCollins — have agreed to a settlement, threatening to overturn a pricing model that allows publishers to set their own e-book prices. Macmillan and Penguin Group USA, which were also named in the suit, did not settle.

The lawsuit alleges that Apple and the publishers conspired to limit e-book price competition, causing “e-book consumers to pay tens of millions of dollars more for e-books than they otherwise would have paid.”