• March 30, 2012

The Justice Department could reach a settlement in the next few weeks with Apple and some of the major publishers accused of colluding to up the price of ebooks, reports Reuters. Per sources, the settlement is expected to eliminate Apple's "most favored nation" status, which had prevented the publishers from selling lower-priced e-books through rival retailers, such as Amazon or Barnes & Noble. As part of its Apple deal, major book publishers, such as Simon & Schuster and HarperCollins, shifted to an "agency model" that allowed them to set the price of e-books and give Apple a 30% cut.