Fair Trade Practices

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.

Late last week, 10 of the 19 named class plaintiffs representing the class of all merchants announced their opposition to the proposed $7.25 billion settlement of a federal antitrust lawsuit over skyrocketing Visa and MasterCard credit card swipe fees.

This week, U.S. District Judge Denise Cote issued an order preliminarily approving the e-book pricing settlements between 49 states and Hachette, HarperCollins, and Simon & Schuster.

This afternoon, New York Federal Judge Denise Cote issued an order entering as a final judgment the DOJ’s proposed settlement agreement with Hachette, HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster in the e-books antitrust litigation. This means that the three settling publishers are required to terminate all of their agency agreements and any agreement that restricts an e-book retailer’s discretion over pricing as soon as allowed under contract, typically, on 30 days’ notice.

On Wednesday, August 22, the Department of Justice filed a reply memorandum with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in which it dismissed arguments made in the latest round of filings regarding the proposed e-book pricing settlement with Hachette, HarperCollins, and Simon & Schuster.

On Monday, August 6, in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Judge Denise Cote allowed the joint request by ABA and Barnes & Noble to file an amicus brief in regard to the Department of Justice’s proposed consent decree affecting publishers’ pricing of e-books and the agency model.

On July 31, the American Booksellers Association and Barnes & Noble filed a motion petitioning the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York to allow them to submit an amicus brief in regard to the Department of Justice's' (DOJ) proposed consent decree affecting publishers' pricing of e-books and the agency model.

On Monday, July 23, the Department of Justice posted the 868 public comments received during the comment period for the proposed consent decree with three of the five publishers involved in its civil suit regarding the agency model. Also posted on the DOJ website was the government’s response to the public comments.

In an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday, New York Senator Charles Schumer, a Democrat, called on the Department of Justice to drop its lawsuit against Apple and five major publishers for allegedly colluding to raise prices on e-books.

On behalf of the ABA Board, association CEO Oren Teicher thanks the hundreds of booksellers who wrote to the Department of Justice during the public comment period regarding the proposed consent decree in the e-book pricing suit — and calls on DOJ to publish the comments well ahead of the court-ordered deadline. 

As the deadline arrived for public comments, indie bookstores, the Authors Guild, a group of nine independent publishers, and consumers and book buyers were among a final surge of concerned parties submitting letters to the Department of Justice to oppose the proposed e-book pricing settlement with Hachette, HarperCollins, and Simon & Schuster and to express support for the agency model.

As of Thursday, June 21, there are just four days left to submit comments to the Department of Justice about the proposed settlement in the department’s civil suit regarding the agency model. ABA is strongly urging booksellers to act today to express their opinions to DOJ.

On Thursday, June 14, ABA submitted its public comments to the Department of Justice on the proposed consent decree in regard to the proposed settlement with three of the five publishers involved in the DOJ’s civil suit regarding the agency model.