A bunch of state attorneys general have filed suit against
Apple and e-book publishers Penguin and Macmillan for allegedly fixing the
price of e-books.
A total of 31 states Friday decided to follow the Justice
Department in going after Apple and the publishers, Friday, joining a suit
initiated by Texas and Connecticut. They are Alaska, Arizona, Colorado,
Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, South
Dakota, Tennessee, Vermont, and West Virginia. The amended complaint
filed Friday adds Virginia, Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, the District of
Columbia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nebraska,
New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Utah, and Wisconsin.
"We do not want businesses interfering with the markets
by illegally conspiring to fix prices," said Virginia Attorney General Ken
Cuccinelli in a statement.
News Corp. subsidiary HarperCollins and CBS-owned Simon
& Schuster have settled with the Justice Department over allegations they
and the other two other publishers conspired with Apple to raise the price of
e-books to prevent Amazon's $9.99 price from becoming the de facto standard.
