Apple to face e-book clampdown if regulators get their way
Apple should be banned from certain publishing contracts and forced to provide links from its own book store to rival sellers such as Amazon, the US Department of Justice has said.
It proposed the measures as punishment for Apple being found guilty of e-book price fixing last month. A Manhattan judge ruled the tech giant had played a "central role" in conspiring with publishers to push up e-book prices.
"The court found that Apple's illegal conduct deprived consumers of the benefits of e-book price competition and forced them to pay substantially higher prices," said Bill Baer, Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Department of Justice's Antitrust Division.
"Under the department's proposed order, Apple's illegal conduct will cease and Apple and its senior executives will be prevented from conspiring to thwart competition in the future."
Regulators said Apple should provide links to other e-book retailers for two years so customers could compare prices with Apple's competitors.
This would "reset competition to the conditions that existed before the conspiracy," they said.
Apple's CEO Tim Cook has filed a motion objecting to the proposal, describing it as a "draconian and punitive intrusion".
The firm has already insisted it did not conspire to fix e-book prices.