eBook Price-fixing Lawsuits Spread to America’s Hat
If by some chance you were hoping that the Price Fix 6 would still get away with their conspiracy, sorry but I’m going to enjoy dashing your hopes.
The Toronto Star is reporting that several law firms in Canada, emboldened by the Dept of Justice’s success here in the US, have filed civil lawsuits this week against the Price Fix 6 and their Canadian subsidiaries. The law firms are representing a number of consumers across Canada who allege that the companies conspired to “fix, maintain, increase or control the price of ebooks” around the time that the iPad launched.
The law firms, two in Ontario and one in B.C, will likely be following a strategy similar to the civil suit filed here in the US. That suit, which has grown to be a class action with hundred if not thousands of plaintiffs, was first filed last fall. Several juicy details have been leaked, leading me to wonder if the defendants should settle before it goes to trial.
One of the complaints alleges that the agency model enacted by the Price Fix 6 raised ebook prices “as much as 50 per cent for most titles over Amazon’s previous prices and reduced competition for ebooks in Canada and elsewhere". Under Canadian law this would be a violation of the Competition Act.
Given the US federal lawsuit, pending state lawsuits, rumored EU lawsuits, and the multiple civil suits, I must say that 2012 will not be a good year for the major publishing conglomerates.
But do you know what really gets me? I’m wondering why the conspirators in chief haven’t been sacked yet. No matter whether you approve of what they did you have to agree that the current situation should cost them their jobs.
Comments
Tony Cole April 19, 2012 um 3:23 am
CEOs are almost never sacked. Actually I would go further, they are never sacked. At the worst, they might leave a company to"spend more time with their families" or to "concentrate on other projects".
Only working stiffs get fired for incompetence, generally if you are more or less at the top of the heap the worst that might happen to you is that your "bonus" would be a few million dollars less than you had hoped. But for that to happen you will have had to have run your company right into the ground first.
Nate Hoffelder April 19, 2012 um 6:51 am
True, but these bozos deserve to be fired.