In which we inhabit the bizarro world.

[barbarienne]

Regular readers are probably wondering why I haven't commented on the DOJ's move against Apple and The Agency Five. (I'm wondering where Random House is. Are they not on the agency model? Because they're larger than the next three publishers combined.) I needed a little time to digest the news

Comments

[burger_eater]

As I understand it, Random House is excluded because they adopted agency pricing later, therefore they couldn't have been in collusion.

[dulcimeoww]

Yeesh. I do see the DOJ's point, but I've also heard enough about publishing and particularly Amazon to feel like quietly cheering the publishers on.

Also, I think there are kinda two separate issues here. One, a publisher has a right to set a price for a product and then dictate the terms under which they will sell that product to a distributor, including refusing to sell the product to distributors who will not respect their pricing (or for any other reason, really). Two, a secret agreement which is designed to prevent competitive pricing is a bit shady to say the least. Clearly, the publishers ought to tell Amazon to shove it unlubricated up a sensitive region completely independently of their decision whether or not to work with Apple and what terms for pricing they will accept in that arrangement. So long as the two decisions remain separate and unconditional, I don't see a problem.