Amazon faces class-action lawsuit over eBook pricing
Last updated on: 16 January,2021 08:40 am
About 90% of eBooks are sold through Amazon
(Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc was slapped with a class-action lawsuit on Thursday accusing the e-commerce giant of inflating the prices of ebooks in collusion with some publishers.
The lawsuit alleges that Amazon and the five largest U.S. publishers, collectively called the Big Five , agreed to price restraints that cause consumers to overpay for eBooks purchased from them through a retail platform other than Amazon.com.
The lawsuit comes a day after Connecticut said it was investigating Amazon for potential anti-competitive behavior in its business selling digital books.
Amazon declined to comment.
About 90% of eBooks are sold through Amazon, the largest U.S. eBooks seller, the lawsuit claimed.
Law firm Hagens Berman, bringing the case, in 2011 filed a similar lawsuit against Apple Inc and the ‘Big Five’ over ebook prices.