The controversy of e-book price fixing has reportedly made its way to Australia. According to The Australian Financial Review, the country's consumer watchdog is asking local booksellers with concerns about the e-book market to make their issues known.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) declined to comment on whether or not it too would pursue collusion charges against the likes of Apple and major book publishers, but it is reportedly exploring its options.
"Competition concerns may arise where traders seek to restrict the discounting of products by way of restrictive arrangements with suppliers," the ACCC told the Financial Review.
The news comes one day after the U.S. Department of Justice announced that it had sued Apple and five major book publishers over an alleged "illegal conspiracy" involving e-book price fixing. Apple, as well as publishers Macmillan and Penguin, plan to fight the charges, while Hachette, HarperCollins, and Simon & Schuster have agreed to a proposed settlement, according to Attorney General Eric Holder.
Australian and U.S. officials are not the only ones examining the issue. In December, the European Commission announced that it had opened a formal antitrust investigation into e-book price fixing.
Not everyone is convinced that the DOJ has a case, though.
Adam Thierer with the Technology Liberation Front argued that "what Apple and the publishers are doing here is trying to find a way to sustain creative works in an era when copyright law is slowly dying."
NYU legal professor Richard Epstein said the case is a "mistake."
"The usual cartel involves restrictions that have few if any efficiency benefits," Epstein said in a blog post. "These agency transactions have both pluses and minuses for consumers and for overall social welfare. It is a good rule of thumb to hold back from public enforcement when the relative balance is unclear."
CNET, meanwhile, speculated today that the government might do better to pursue the publishers than Apple, pointing to a London business meeting between publishers at which Apple was not present.
According to Sharis A. Pozen, acting assistant attorney general within the DOJ's antitrust division, the "goal was to restore competition to the marketplace."
The ACCC recently pursued Apple over complaints regarding the 4G LTE connectivity on its new iPad. Apple agreed to issue refunds to new iPad buyers who were not satisfied with the device's "4G" speeds.