Apple and publishers accused of pricing fix over electronic book sales

In particular, the European Commission is investigating a significant shift in the way the price of e-books is determined that occurred in 2010, just as Apple introduced the iPad and its own online book store, iBookstore.

Apple was the first retailer to allow publishers to move to so-called agency agreements, in which publishers get to set the price at which online bookshops sell e-books. Previously publishers were able to set the wholesale price of e-books, while the retailers decided at what price to sell them on. The fears these practices may breach EU antitrust rules that prohibit cartels and restrictive business practices.

The investigation targets publishers Hachette Livre, a unit of France’s Lagardere Publishing; Harper Collins, owned by Rupert Murdoch’s US-based News Corp.; CBS’s Simon & Schuster; Penguin, which is owned by UK publishing house Pearson Group; and Germany’s Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck, owner of Macmillan.

The Commission stressed the probe was in its early stages and did not mean the companies actually broke EU competition law. It follows an investigations by regulators in the UK and US.

Apple declined to comment.