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US: As ebooks case nears end, has DOJ already lost?

By  |  June 21, 2013

As the ebooks trial, initiated by the US Department of Justice against Apple Inc. over suspicions the tech giant conspired to fix ebooks prices, nears its final stretch, the latest developments in the case could suggest that the DOJ has already lost its fight. According to reports, book retailer Barnes & Noble, which offered its testimony in the case yesterday, blew a major hole through the DOJ’s case as B&N Vice President of Digital Content Theresa Horner testified the company had already been negotiating pricing details with ebooks publishers well before Apple entered the market. Those negotiations, said Horner, were the retailer’s efforts to cut losses the store was suffering thanks to rivals like Amazon. The testimony largely refutes the DOJ’s case that Apple was the “ringleader” in such pricing negotiations to force retailers to use the agency pricing model. As the case nears its end, speculation mounts that the DOJ will be defeated. The case is scheduled to wrap up by the end of this week.

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