Penguin & Macmillan Answer DOJ Lawsuit

In answer to the Department of Justice’s antitrust suit against Apple and five of the “Big Six” publishers, Penguin and Macmillan each filed formal responses. (HarperCollins, Hachette, and Simon & Schuster have negotiated settlements, and Apple filed its own response previously.)

While both Penguin and Macmillan’s responses make reference to Amazon’s near-monopoly in the e-book business, Penguin’s filing is getting the most attention.

Penguin robustly defends the agency model, claiming it “has specifically been found by the US Supreme Court to be a legitmate way to do business.” It states the reasons Penguin wanted to work with Apple under agency terms, accuses the DoJ of ignoring the complexity of the e-book business, picks apart the problems of the Kindle format, and accuses Amazon of also demanding “most favored nation” provisions (an allegation made against Apple in the suit).

For more, see the PDF of Penguin’s response and the PDF of Macmillan’s response.