Amazon is accused of fixing the price of e-books sold on the e-commerce site through anti-competitive agreements with the country’s top five publishers, according to a complaint filed on Thursday.
The class action filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York alleges that Amazon and publishers entered into pricing agreements in 2015, allowing publishers to increase their ebook prices by up to 30 percent, protecting Amazon from price competition from other ebook retailers.
The lawsuit also alleges that Amazon violated antitrust and consumer protection laws through agreements with publishers known as the “Big Five”, composed of Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin-Random House and Simon & Schuster.
The lawsuit, filed by the company Hagens Berman, follows a similar case of collective action that the company filed against Apple and the so-called Big Five in 2011. This case ended with Apple hitting $ 400 million and publishers hitting another million, firm said.
The deal also prevented the Big Five from interfering with retailers’ discounts for two years, resulting in lower, more competitive e-book prices in 2013-2014, before the alleged price-fixing agreement that Amazon and publishers signed in 2015. , according to the complaint.
“Amazon’s abuse of power proves, once again, that when it comes to violating antitrust laws, the New Economy practices the same old tricks,” said Steve Berman, managing partner at Hagens Berman, in a statement.
Spokesmen for Amazon and Macmillan declined to comment. Spokesmen for the other publishers were not immediately available for comment.
The suit was opened in the same week that Connecticut Attorney General William Tong (D) said his office has an “active and ongoing antitrust investigation” at Amazon over “potentially anti-competitive terms in its e-distribution agreements – books with certain publishers “.
Connecticut was among the states that had already filed a lawsuit against Apple over competition in ebook sales. The Justice Department also sued Apple in 2012, claiming that it conspired with major publishers over the price of e-books.
The statewide investigation into Amazon’s e-book business is one of many antitrust investigations facing the e-commerce giant, including state and federal efforts.