Amazon, Publishers Sidestep Antitrust Cases Over Books, E-Books

Amazon.com Inc. and the five largest US publishing houses are free for now of antitrust litigation over claims they manipulated online book and e-book markets, although a federal judge in Manhattan said the consumers and bookstore leading the lawsuits can refile them.

Judge Gregory H. Woods issued a pair of brief rulings late Thursday tentatively tossing both cases, which in addition to Amazon targeted Hachette Book Group Inc., HarperCollins Publishers LLC, Macmillan Publishing Group LLC, Penguin Random House LLC, and Simon & Schuster Inc.

Woods, writing for the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, adopted reports ...