US govt blasts Apple's objections to lawsuit accusing firm, publishers of 'fixing e-book prices'

Washington, July 24 (ANI): The U.S. Government has blasted Apple's objections to a lawsuit accusing the tech giant and major publishers of a price-fixing conspiracy on e-books, according to a report.

The accusations are the latest skirmish in a battle between the government and Apple that began in April 2010.

Apple was accused of conspiring with five major book publishers to fix the price of e-books in an effort to take share from Amazon, the market leader.

Government prosecutors allege that Apple and the publishers, including Penguin and HarperCollins, colluded to set up what is known as the "agency model" agreement in an alarmed response to Amazon's move to price all its e-books at 9.99 dollars.

The pricing model allowed the publishers to set the price for e-books as long as retailers, such as Apple, took a 30pc cut of the sales, The Telegraph reports.

According to the paper, the U.S. Government called the objections of Apple to the legal settlement as "a naked attempt by the firm to have its competitors' ability to compete on price constrained, to take away the nearly unfettered ability to discount that a retailer who desires to compete would embrace but Apple fears".

Apple has argued that the government's allegations are not true and that its entry into the e-book market has introduced more innovation and benefited the consumer.

According to the paper, Apple, Penguin, owned by Pearson, and MacMillan are all fighting the settlement, which still requires court approval. (ANI)