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Ebook Retailers Distribute Class-Action Antitrust Settlement Credits

June 24, 2016

If you’re an ebook user: you may have received store credits due to a $400 million settlement in an ebook price fixing antitrust case.

Amazon, Nook, iBooks, and Kobo are all releasing credits of either $1.57 or $6.93 for ebooks you’ve purchased from these companies, contingent on whether or not the ebook was a New York Times bestseller, GalleyCat reports.

The settlement payoffs come on the heels of a long-running case-action antitrust lawsuit filed by the Justice Department and thirty-three states and territories against Apple for allegedly conspiring with five major book publishers to inflate ebook prices.

Steve Berman, managing partner of law firm Hagens Berman, had this to say in a statement regarding the settlement: “To make this settlement effective and accessible for consumers, our team faced a sizable undertaking that entailed almost constant contact with the retailers to make sure the credits will be applied to consumer accounts across the country. This is the second round of distribution in the case, and we believe the only case in the country to have so much money returned directly to consumers.”

Check the Apple ebook settlement website’s FAQ to find out which retailers are distributing credits and when you can expect them.

Amazon’s settlement credits will be valid through June 24, 2017 and can be used on anything on the site except Amazon gift cards and certain subscriptions, reports The Los Angeles Times.

Related reading: Amazon is opening its third brick-and-mortar bookstore in Portland, just ten miles away from the flagship Powell’s Books store; meanwhile, Alex Shephard ponders Barnes & Noble’s potential collapse at the New Republic: “The mega-retailer that drove many small, independent booksellers out of business is now being done in by the rise of Amazon. But while many book lovers may be tempted to gloat, the death of Barnes & Noble would be catastrophic—not just for publishing houses and the writers they publish, but for American culture as a whole.”


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