: DOJ’s revised e-book remedies a ‘broadside’ favoring Amazon

Even after the end of a formal antitrust trial, both sides in ebook pricing case continue to argue. said the Department of Justice’s latest version of proposed penalties are a “broadside” favoring rival Amazon. The comments by ’s legal tm came as the government and the iBooks company hammer out details largely in public.’s remarks centered on the DOJ’s insistence that an outside antitrust monitor be named to ensure against anticompetitive practices in the ebook industry. In July, was found guilty of ebook price-fixing and colluding with publishers against Amazon…’s lawyer Orin Snyder previously described thegovernment’s latest proposala“broadside masquerading as a brief”which ignored the trial judge’s call to find an alternative to the monitor.In a letter to U.S. District Court Judge Denise Cote in New York, Snyder added that the DOJ’s remedies gives Amazon a“significant competitive advantage over ,”CNETreports.He also called on Cote to order the government to withdraw its latest proposal and file one that meets the judge’s request. On Tuesday, a hring was scheduled to discuss the proposal.After the DOJ’s initial penalty proposalwas shot downby and others, the government’s lawyers returned with a revised plan. That plan involved cutting in half the ten-yr injunction, as well as twking a requirement about links from rival apps.However, the call for an outside antitrust monitor remained.After the July trialfound guiltyof ebook price-fixing, a separate trial reportedly will happen in 2014to assess damages must pay.