European Commission to Accept Apple Settlement Offer Over E-Books?

The European Commission will likely accept an offer from Apple and four publishers to end an antitrust probe into e-book price fixing, reports Reuters.

Apple and the publishers have offered to let retailers set their own prices or discounts for a period of two years, and also to suspend "most-favored nation" contracts for five years, the sources said. Such clauses bar publishers from making deals with rival retailers to sell e-books more cheaply than Apple.

Apple, Simon & Schuster, News Corp. unit HarperCollins, Lagardere SCA's Hachette Livre and Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck, the owner of German company Macmillan, made the proposal in September.


Pearson's Penguin group did not participate in the offer and also did not participate in a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice in a similar investigation.

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