The European Commission formally accepted Penguin’s December 2012 settlement on ebook pricing, which essentially follows the Department of Justice settlement conditions and mirrors the “commitments” already made in Europe by the other four settling publishers and Apple. The Commission said in a statement that “after a market test” it “is satisfied that the commitments offered by Penguin remedy the competition concerns it had identified.” (Our standard reminder: The European settlement only affects countries that allow the discounting of ebooks in the first place — so it applies principally to the UK.) Separately, with the final state settlements with Penguin and […]