With Judge Denise Cote approving the settlement between the Department of Justice and HBG, HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster more swiftly than most people expected, the industry moves into the what-happens-next phase. The answer, depending upon your view, is either just complicated, or a big fat mess. The biggest immediate pressure is the need for the Settlers to have new contracts in place with Apple in as little as week. And the biggest wildcard is what, if anything, happens with appeals. Here is our guide (which we reserve the right to modify at any time). The Legal Parts: Another Delay? […]
DOJ
Judge Cote Approves eBook Settlement, Deems Case “Straightforward Price Fixing”
After months of comments, filings, and responses, Judge Denise Cote didn’t waste any time in approving the Department of Justice’s settlement with Hachette, HarperCollins, and Simon & Schuster, moving it out of her docket and potentially over the Court of Appeals. Judge Cote was not persuaded that there was anything to be learned at an evidentiary hearing, “given the voluminous submissions” already filed “as well as the detailed factual allegations in the Complaint” and said the court was “well-equipped to rule on these matters.” At the end of the day, she believed the government “more than met [the] minimal standard” that they […]
Justice Doesn’t “Like” the Court’s Friends
Without formally requesting permission from the court, the Department of Justice has gone ahead and helped themselves to a response to friend of the court briefs from the Authors Guild and Bob Kohn. Needless to say, they find those briefs without merit. To the Guild they say that “just as fear of competition is not a defense to price fixing, it also has no place in determining whether a government consent decree is in the ‘public interest'” (thereby not addressing the thing that the Guild “fears”/warns against). To Kohn they reply his “assertion that ‘if the government’s conclusions are not […]
Kohn’s Final, Comic, Reply
Required by Judge Denise Cote to get his amicus brief down to 5 pages or less (from a proposed 25 pages or more), Bob Kohn has gone more than one step further and submitted his arguments as short “graphic novel” instead. The full panels follow. (Click to expand.) Perhaps the DOJ will reply via Pinterest:
State eBook Settlement Will Actually Cost $78.9 Million
Complete documents for the proposed settlement between the states and Hachette, Harper and Simon & Schuster still have not appeared in the US Federal Court’s electronic docket, but the Connecticut Attorney General’s office provided us with some of the key filings. The total amount to be paid out by the publishers is actually $78.9 million. (In addition to the $69 million in consumer compensation, they are paying the states $7.625 million in legal fees–presumably split equally among the three since it isn’t specified–but also another $2.25 million not previously announced for “costs associated with administering the settlements.” The consumer compensation […]
Vague Update on EU Antitrust Case Says Apple And Four Publishers Closer To Settlement
The European Union’s antitrust investigation into ebook pricing has long been more opaque than the US case, but a single-source story from Reuters offers a vague update to a previous report of an impending settlement from early July. According to this story, Apple, along with S&S, Macmillan, Hachette, and HarperCollins, “will allow retailers such as Amazon to sell e-books at a discount for two years in a bid to end an EU antitrust investigation and stave off possible fines.” In other words, the EU seems to want nothing more or less than the DOJ and state attorneys general offered and […]