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Ebooks Suit Could ‘Wipe Out Publishing Industry As We Know It,’ Senator Says

By July 19, 20120
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The Department of Justice’s lawsuit against Apple and major book publishers “sounds plausible on its face, [but] could wipe out the publishing industry as we know it, making it much harder for young authors to get published,” New York Senator Charles Schumer writes in a Wall Street Journal op-ed.

Schumer has been in touch with the WSJ about the ebook pricing suit for awhile. “Rarely have I seen a suit that so ill serves the interests of the consumer,” he told the paper in April.

Schumer’s overall argument against the agency pricing lawsuit is that the lawsuit hurts competition by making Amazon the dominant player. “While consumers may have a short-term interest in today’s new release e-book prices, they have a more pressing long-term interest in the survival of the publishing industry,” he writes.

(MORE: Will Amazon Take Over the World?)

Overall, Schumer says, the lawsuit also has broad implications for “other industries that are coming up with creative ways to grow and adapt to the Internet.” He says, “The administration needs to reassess its prosecution priorities. Justice Department officials currently have comprehensive guidelines in place to determine when they should challenge mergers, but they have no such guidelines for non-merger investigations. It’s time to come up with some.”

The Department of Justice is suing Apple and five big publishers for allegedly colluding to set ebook prices. Three of the publishers — HarperCollins, Hachette and Simon & Schuster — have settled, while Penguin, Macmillan and Apple will fight the suit in court. The DOJ received over 800 public comments on the proposed settlement and is expected to post all of them, along with its response, around July 20, with the proposed final judgment on the settlement going through on August 3. The trial is set to begin June 3, 2013.

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Jen Cord
Jen Cord

There is something very wrong with publishing in general.  Other forms of media (i.e. DVDs, CDs, etc.) have continued to decline while the price of a book has reached astronomical heights.  A hardback costs $30!  Not even a new release DVD costs that much.  

TimBlough
TimBlough

Do we even need publishers anymore? Can't anyone just self-publish their works on the internet? Sell those works through Amazon or Ebay or their own website? Cut out the expensive middle men! 

Dan Bruce
Dan Bruce

That can work, especially for authors like myself who produce rather esoteric works (in my case studies in Jewish and Christian Bible chronology and prophecy) intended for a limited audience. It's a situation in which the author knows his market better than a large publishing house could ever  know it. And, as in my own case, I also make my books available for free on my website since profit is not the main motive.

Dan Bruce
Dan Bruce

I wasn't aware that it is easy for young (unknown) authors to get published with things as they are now. If all of the rejection letters sent out by publishers to young authors were stacked together, we would have our nation's next outreach to Mars!

onaturalia
onaturalia

Price fixing is illegal. It was a stupid move that is going to cost these businesses. Lesson learned. Deal with it.

GoldenGir1
GoldenGir1

So basically.... you are saying that you want to keep price-fixing and creating a pseudo monopoly so you can keep making money... I thought the whole anti monopoly law was to prevent the very thing that you are saying that you should be allowed to do?

What a bunch of BS. You are threatening that by destroying the publishing industry... we'll have a lot less to read in the future? Young authors will have harder time publishing ?

You know what, if it is crap that shouldn't be published, and pollute the world of written works, it wouldn't be bad to have a system (such as supply and demand, basic competition, survival of fittest, or in this case, read-worthy materials) that self-filters all the garbage that some 'authors' feel justified to put out. Any consumables, including books and reading materials - their prices should be determined by supply and demand - quality and therefore the popularity of the book can demand higher prices, while crap that should not have been published in the first place should be treated as such. NOT price-fixing/colluding

We live in a capitalist society driven by supply and demand (of course with some restrictions). You argue for the free market, capitalism, and cry about getting paid correctly when it comes to copyright issues (not that I am condoning illegal activity) but want readers to subsidize your paychecks, even for all the crap that should not have been published, because you are doing the world a favor by creating lots of stuff to read (again, including all the garbage)? What kind of messed up logic is that? And you call yourself a publisher?

Stop trying to make this sound like it's all in the best interest of the general consumer and the public - everyone knows that you are in this for the money

NaveedXVO
NaveedXVO

Schumer is admitting that the companies are colluding on prices (effectively running a monopoly) but saying basically that they should be allowed to continue colluding because the publishing industry must survive in it's current form. Why should the publishing industry be allowed to hold prices high if it can't compete? Innovate or go out of business, creative destruction. The losers are consumers if Schumer gets his way. I wonder what industry lobbies Schumer.

Mary Johanna
Mary Johanna

 I know only of one country where book prices are "colluded" if you will, and that is Germany.  They have a thriving publishing industry and publishing companies are also printing less profitable authors because they can afford to.  In the end it is the consumer who will miss out.