As many expected, the US Department of Justice filed suit against Apple, Macmillan, Penguin, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster & Hachette. The latter three have decided to settle the case but not admit collusion. Apple, Macmillan and Penguin have said they did nothing wrong and will fight it.
I applaud Macmillan and Penguin for fighting for what they believe.
The stakes are high. The direction of the publishing industry is changing again. It moves a lot these days.
Whether guilty or not, defending a lawsuit is expensive and time-consuming. It is too and that it has become this. But for Harper, S&S and Hachette, the cost of fighting outweighed the cost of settling. So they took the least-expenisve way out.
Macmillan will fight the battle.
They were the leaders on battling Amazon on agency. So much, Amazon yanked their BUY buttons during the feud.
They are the leaders again.
Of the Big 6, Macmillan is by far the smallest in billing. But it leading, they are number one.
What happens to all the non-corporate publishers and their deals?
