April 4 (Reuters) – Apple Inc and publishers
Pearson and Macmillan are reluctant to agree to terms
sought by U.S. and European antitrust authorities investigating
possible electronic-book price-fixing, the Wall Street Journal
cited sources as saying on Wednesday.
Apple and some of the world’s biggest book publishers are
suspected of colluding to push up e-book prices and are under
investigation by the U.S. Justice Department and the European
Commission. Reuters reported on March 30 that the U.S. Justice
Department could reach a settlement in the case in the next few
weeks.
The Journal, citing sources, reported that CBS Corp’s
Simon & Schuster Inc, HarperCollins Publishers Inc and
Lagardere SCA’s Hachette Book Group are inclined to settle. But
Apple, Pearson and Macmillan, a unit of Verlagsgruppe Georg von
Holtzbrinck GmbH, are unwilling to, according to the report.
The U.S. Justice Department is seeking to unravel agreements
Apple secured from five publishers about two years ago as the
Silicon Valley company was launching its iPad and was seeking to
break up Amazon’s dominance in the digital book market.
Officials with the Justice Department declined to comment
when contacted by Reuters.
