DOJ: Apple and B&N can continue to use agency pricing "exactly as before" for ebooks

To the extent the proposed Final Judgment requires changes to the business relationship between retailers such as Apple and Settling Defendants, it ensures that retailers have more flexibility, not less. Apple’s stated position on this point is that “eBook retailers such as Apple and Barnes & Noble should be free to continue with the agency model without Government mandated changes.” Id. at 3. They are indeed free to do so. Nothing in the proposed Final Judgment would force Apple or B&N to exercise discounting authority - they are free to carry out their own businesses exactly as before. What they may not do is continue to rely on a conspiracy to restrain their competitors.

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