New Lawsuit Alleges That Amazon Has Been Price Fixing E-Books

Filed in a federal district court in New York, the lawsuit claims that the e-commerce company is working with publishers to stifle the competition.

This stifling of competition stems from a deal between Amazon and five book publishers which has created higher e-book prices, according to the suit.

The suit named the publishers as HarperCollins Publishers, Hachette Book Group, Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, and Macmillan. It claims that these publishers account for 80 percent of books sold in the US.

The Amazon price is the price the publishers charge other retailers as well, and the lawsuit states that this prevents sellers from offering the e-books at lower prices.

Additional Resources

New lawsuit accuses Amazon of e-book price fixing, The Verge (January 17, 2021)

Image credit: Shutterstock.com / Sundry Photography