London, Dec 7 (ANI): Now, consumers would be required to pay more for their favourite novels because of an investigation launched by the European Union into whether Apple and five major publishing houses illegally raised the prices of e-books.
The European Union anti trust watchdog probe, which follows a number of office raids in March, focuses on a controversial system known as the "agency model", which was adopted by booksellers and Apple.
This allows publishers, including Britain's Penguin, Harper Collins and Hatchette, to set the prices at which books are sold on the Internet and for the retailer, in this case Apple's iBookstore, to take an agency commission.
It is contrary to the free market model used by Amazon where the retailer buys in bulk and can sell for any price it wants, and it could contravene EU antitrust laws.
The European Commission announced it had opened a "formal" investigation into the process, which it worries could produce cartels and "restrictive business practices".
According to the paper, the probe will examine deals between Apple and five major publishes, Penguin, French-based Hachette Livre, the US owned Harper Collins and Simon and Schuster and MacMillan-owners Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck of Germany.
A statement said that the five "possibly with the help of Apple, engaged in anti-competitive practices affecting the sale of e-books in the European Economic Area, in breach of EU antitrust rules". (ANI)
|
|
Comments:
