Publishers sued over ebook price ‘collusion’
The US Department of Justice sued Apple and five of the world’s largest book publishers yesterday, alleging that they colluded to increase the price of ebooks and cost consumers “tens of millions of dollars”.
美国司法部(US Department of Justice)昨日起诉苹果(Apple)和5家世界上最大的图书出版商，指控他们串通一气抬高电子书价格，导致消费者遭受“数千万美元”的损失。
The complaint, filed in the Southern District of New York, alleges Apple and publishing executives agreed on a common response to Amazon’s pricing policy over phone calls, emails and meals in the “private dining rooms of upscale Manhattan -restaurants”.
美国司法部向纽约南区法院(Southern District of New York)提起诉讼，称苹果和出版业高管们利用电话、电邮和在“曼哈顿一些高级餐厅的包房”里共同进餐的机会，商定了对亚马逊(Amazon)定价政策的统一回应。
Amazon, which had challenged the industry with a maximum ebook price of $9.99, is not named as a defendant.
以“每本电子书售价不超过9.99美元”的定价政策挑战了电子书行业的亚马逊，不在美国司法部的起诉名单上。
The publishers named in the suit are Hachette Book Group, part of Lagardère; HarperCollins, owned by News Corp; Holtzbrinck, owner of Macmillan; Simon and Schuster, a CBS subsidiary; and Penguin, owned by Pearson, the parent company of the Financial Times.
被列为被告的出版商有：拉加德尔集团(Lagardère)旗下的阿歇特图书集团(Hachette Book Group)，隶属新闻集团(News Corp)的哈珀柯林斯(HarperCollins)，麦克米伦(Macmillan)的母公司霍尔茨布林克(Holtzbrinck)，美国哥伦比亚广播公司(CBS)旗下的西蒙与舒斯特出版社(Simon and Schuster)，英国《金融时报》母公司培生集团旗下的企鹅出版社(Penguin)。
The DoJ alleged that Apple and the publishers raised the price of best-selling titles $2 to $5 each by introducing, at the same time Apple launched its iPad tablet, an “agency” business model in which publishers set retail prices. Apple’s insistence on a “most favoured nation” clause in which publishers agreed not to sell on cheaper terms elsewhere – while giving Apple a 30 per cent commission on every sale – forced other retailers to adopt the same terms, the DoJ added.
