Things just took a turn in the ebooks price-fixing case that has Apple fighting with Amazon the Department of Justice. Judge Denise Cote has decided that Apple needs a parent third-party to monitor to make sure it’s not engaged in anti-competitive practices.
From Reuters:
She said a monitor would be necessary, after Apple had failed to show it learned its lesson from its “blatant” violations of antitrust law … The monitor, she said, would likely be installed to review Apple’s internal antitrust compliance program and procedures and recommend changes, and also required annual antitrust training for employees in Apple’s e-books and content businesses.
Parental supervision needed!
How the hell is no one asking, or even pointing out, that this ruling firmly gives Amazon a significant grasp on the e-books market? The government has effectively handed Amazon a monopoly on an entire market. Apple, previous to this ruling, has been reported as having 20% of the US ebook market locked up. Amazon has 50-60% of the entire market.
I’m not really entirely sure I understand how a company with a minor stake in the ebook game can be anticompetitive by offering an alternative pricing scheme that stands in direct competition to the one offered by the company with the largest grasp on an industry. Isn’t that the very definition of competition?
Shakedown, anyone? How about, Pay to play?
It’s getting asinine up in here. Up in here.
