Bill to limit Amazon’s advantage moves forward in France; Reading Group Choices’ 2014 guide out now; National survey details reading habits; NRF predicts modest growth during holidays; Consumers use smartphones, tablets to shop; California Bookstore Day website live; NCAC in New York Times Sunday Dialogue; Thurber Prize goes to Dan Zevin; Penguin Random House merges audio; HarperCollins joins Scribd’s e-book subscription service; Chronicle Books goes green; BISG announces new mission statement, industry award winners, F+W Media partnership

On Wednesday, July 10, a federal judge ruled that Apple violated antitrust laws by conspiring with five publishers to raise and fix e-book prices. Apple has said it will appeal the judge’s decision.

ABA has submitted public comments to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers to oppose the selling of closed generic TLDs, which would allow companies to secure exclusive rights to domains such as .read or .author.

ABA bookstore members should expect to receive a settlement notice soon as part of the proposed class-action settlement of a federal antitrust lawsuit over rapidly rising Visa and MasterCard credit card swipe fees. ABA is currently working with a coalition of trade associations and companies to gather information as to the best course of action for members.

On Friday, February 8, Macmillan became the final publisher to agree to a settlement of the e-book agency model pricing suit brought by the Department of Justice against Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin, Simon & Schuster, and Apple in April 2012.

The Department of Justice announced on Tuesday that it had reached a settlement with Penguin Group (USA) in the antitrust suit brought in April against Apple and five major publishers with agency model pricing for e-books.

On December 3, a majority of named class plaintiffs filed a notice of appeal to challenge a ruling from the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York that grants preliminary approval to a proposed settlement of a long-standing antitrust class action filed by merchants against Visa, MasterCard, and the largest banks.

A U.S. District Court judge has granted preliminary approval to a proposed class-action settlement of a federal antitrust lawsuit over rapidly rising Visa and MasterCard credit card swipe fees despite opposition from 10 of the 19 named plaintiffs.

On November 1, 20 retailers and trade groups, including the American Booksellers Association, the National Association of College Stores, and the National Retail Federation, asked a judge to reject a proposed class-action settlement of a federal antitrust lawsuit over skyrocketing Visa and MasterCard credit card swipe fees.

Beginning January 1, 2013, Penguin Group USA will be offering independent bricks-and-mortar full-service bookstores a unique partnership opportunity to increase sales and profits and reduce returns for both frontlist and backlist titles.