Book Publishers Spared From E-Book Price Lawsuit Against Amazon

A federal judge is letting plaintiffs move forward with their e-book price monopolization suit against Amazon.com Inc. while dismissing claims against five major book publishers.

The antitrust lawsuit accuses Amazon of monopolizing the market to raise e-book prices and alleges the e-commerce giant entered into agreements with the top five US book publishers to drive up the cost of electronic books across the internet. Judge Gregory Woods narrowed the lawsuit over the weekend to allow the book publishers —Hachette Book Group Inc., HarperCollins Publishers, Macmillan Publishing Group, Penguin Random House, and Simon & Schuster — to escape monopolization claims.

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