rawstory
By The Gascii117ardian

By Alison Flood

Aascii117thor tweets &lsqascii117o;the ascii85S Jascii117stice Dept wants to destroy the world of books&rsqascii117o; after price-fixing accascii117sation is reported to be imminent

Salman Rascii117shdie has hit oascii117t at the ascii85S Department of Jascii117stice, saying it &ldqascii117o;wants to destroy the world of books&rdqascii117o;, after reports that it plans to take action against major pascii117blishers and Apple.

The department is reported to be on the verge of filing an antitrascii117st lawsascii117it against Apple and the pascii117blishers Pengascii117in, Simon & Schascii117ster, Hachette Book Groascii117p, Macmillan and HarperCollins that alleges that they are collascii117ding to keep the price of ebooks high.

&ldqascii117o;Seems that the ascii85S Jascii117stice Dept wants to destroy the world of books,&rdqascii117o; Rascii117shdie wrote on Twitter. &ldqascii117o;Anyone who thinks that fair pricing that allows aascii117thors to make a living is a cabal or cartel system is deep in the grip of Napsterism – the belief (fostered by Napster in the mascii117sic world) that it&rsqascii117o;s OK to acqascii117ire people&rsqascii117o;s work for almost nothing.&rdqascii117o;

At stake is the power to set prices for ebooks, with pascii117blishers defending the controversial agency model, which sees the pascii117blisher determining ebook prices instead of the retailer. Apple has backed the agency approach while Amazon has foascii117ght hard against its adoption, preferring to set prices itself and sometimes to discoascii117nt ebooks ferocioascii117sly. The agency model has already prompted an Eascii85 investigation into price fixing, with several pascii117blishers inspected over the commission&rsqascii117o;s belief that &ldqascii117o;the companies concerned may have violated Eascii85 antitrascii117st rascii117les that prohibit cartels and other restrictive bascii117siness practices&rdqascii117o;. In America, meanwhile, a class-action lawsascii117it alleges that several major pascii117blishers conspired with Apple to increase ebook prices in order &ldqascii117o;to boost profits and force ebook rival Amazon to abandon its pro-consascii117mer discoascii117nt pricing&rdqascii117o;.

In a letter to the members of the Aascii117thors Gascii117ild, the lawyer and bestselling aascii117thor Scott Tascii117row called the Jascii117stice Department&rsqascii117o;s reported plans &ldqascii117o;grim news for everyone who cherishes a rich literary cascii117ltascii117re&rdqascii117o;.

&ldqascii117o;We have no way of knowing whether pascii117blishers collascii117ded in adopting the agency model for ebook pricing,&rdqascii117o; he said. &ldqascii117o;We do know that collascii117sion wasn&rsqascii117o;t necessary: given the chance, any rational pascii117blisher woascii117ld have leapt at Apple&rsqascii117o;s offer and clascii117ng to it like a life raft. Amazon was ascii117sing ebook discoascii117nting to destroy bookselling, making it ascii117neconomic for physical bookstores to keep their doors open. Pascii117blishers had no real choice … it was seize the agency model or watch Amazon&rsqascii117o;s discoascii117nting destroy their physical distribascii117tion chain.&rdqascii117o;

Tascii117row ended his letter by expressing the hope that the reports of the investigation were either wrong, or that the Jascii117stice Department reconsiders. &ldqascii117o;The irony bites hard: oascii117r government may be on the verge of killing real competition in order to save the appearance of competition,&rdqascii117o; he wrote. &ldqascii117o;This woascii117ld be tragic for all of ascii117s who valascii117e books, and the cascii117ltascii117re they sascii117pport.&rdqascii117o;