A federal judge on Thursday dismissed two antitrust lawsuits accusing Amazon.com Inc. and five big publishers of illegally conspiring to fix US prices for electronic and traditional books, thereby causing consumers and bookstores to lose money. had to pay more.
U.S. District Judge Gregory Woods in Manhattan accepted a magistrate judge’s recommendations to end both cases against Amazon, Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins Publishers, Macmillan Publishing Group, Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster.
Consumers accused the defendants of signing agreements that inflate e-book prices by locking in a 30 percent “agency” fee to Amazon on each sale to publishers, and guaranteeing that Amazon’s prices will increase. will not be cut.
Meanwhile, retail booksellers alleged that Amazon had been awarded “discriminatory discounts” on hardback, paperback and mass-produced books, forcing them to pay publishers high wholesale prices and disappointing book sales. .
According to the plaintiffs, Amazon commands 90 percent of retail e-book sales and 50 percent of print trade book sales, while publishers account for 80 percent of both types of books.
But in two opinions totaling 113 pages, US magistrate Judge Valerie Figueredo last month recommended that both lawsuits be dismissed, citing a lack of evidence of collusion.
It found this in the e-book case by “stating” that consumers “provided no plausible explanation as to why the publishers were induced to participate in a conspiracy that led to Amazon as an e-book retailer”. further increased its dominance.
Woods fully embraced Figueredo’s argument. The lawsuits were dismissed without prejudice, meaning plaintiffs could attempt to amend their complaints.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Amazon had no immediate comment.
The trade book case was pioneered by Bookends & Beginnings, a bookseller in Evanston, Illinois.
Cases Amazon.com Inc. E-Book Antitrust Litigation, US District Court, Southern District of New York, no. 21-00351; and Bookends & Beginnings LLC v Amazon.com Inc et al. In the same Court, no. 21-02584.
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