On a separate occasion, they met with a sixth publisher, again in a private
dining room, where the DoJ claims they “discussed the growth of e-books
and complained about Amazon’s role in that growth”.
Not long after, in 2010, the five publishers accused of colluding with Apple
signed up to the so-called “agency model” of pricing, under which
they dictate the price of an ebook as long as they give 30pc of the revenues
to the retailer.
“Publishers saw the rise on e-books, and particularly Amazon’s price
discounting, as a substantial challenge to their traditional business model
[and] feared that lower retail prices for e-books might lead eventually to
lower wholesale prices for e-books [and] lower prices for print books,”
the DoJ said. To combat this, they “teamed up with Apple, which shared
the same goal of restraining retail price competition”, it added.