On Tuesday the European Commission announced proposed settlement “commitments” from Amazon to give up a variety of restrictive “parity clauses” in their ebook contracts with publishers across Europe, following a “preliminary assessment” reached on December 9, 2016 concluding “the clauses may breach EU antitrust rules and result in reduced competition among e-book distributors, and less consumer choice.” The new settlement comes quickly after Amazon’s Audible subsidiary agreed earlier this month to end its worldwide exclusivity agreements on digital audiobooks with Apple’s iTunes stores. The ebook settlement includes the publication of the EC’s “preliminary view” that Amazon “may violate EU antitrust rules” […]
