[Cobbydaler]

Technology giant Apple and major book publishers are being sued by the US Department of Justice over the pricing of e-books.

The US accuses Apple and Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Simon and Schuster and Penguin of colluding over the prices of e-books they sell.

This lawsuit is over the firms' move to the agency model where publishers rather than sellers set prices.

Good to see the EU are getting involved as well:

Meanwhile, the European Commission has also been probing e-book price fixing. Apple, Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan and Simon and Schuster have now made proposals to end it.

"The European Commission has received proposals of possible commitments from Apple and four international publishers," said the EU's competition commissioner Joaquin Almunia.

"I welcome the fact that these five companies are making proposals to reach an early resolution of the case, so promptly after we opened proceedings in December 2011," he added.

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