The Justic Department is following suit with the European Union, confirming that it too is looking into e-book pricing. A number of outlets have reported that the Justice Department's acting antitrust chief stated her group has launched a probe into e-book pricing models. In a statement to the public, Sharis Pozen said the Justic Department is "investigating the electronic book industry, along with the European Commission and the states attorneys general."
The Justice Department's announcement Wednesday came after the European Union said, earlier this week, that it would be investigating potential antitrust issues involving five major publishers and Apple. In the States, a number of lawsuits have been filed charging the same thing--that publishers colluded with Apple, just before the release of the iPad, to create what has come be known as agency pricing.
The case is built around the notion that publishers worked with Apple to create a pricing model that would pressure Amazon, which sold e-books on the wholesale model, to abandon that practice. Publishers had long been concerned that Amazon, which regularly took losses in selling e-books atlow prices, was devaluing their content. Under the agency model, publishers set the price of their e-books, and retailers take a cut of the set price. Under the wholesale model, retailers paid a set fee for the publishers' content, but could then sell it to consumers at any price they wanted.
Rumors have long swirled that the Deprartment of Justice might be looking into the issue, but Wednesday's announcement from Pozen was the first official confirmation that an investigation is underway.
