The primary Connecticut order official mentioned Wednesday it was conducting an antitrust investigation into how Amazon manages its e-book enterprise.
William Tong, Legal professional Common of Connecticut, mentioned in a press release that the State “has an energetic and ongoing antitrust investigation into Amazon concerning probably anti-competitive phrases” within the distribution agreements the corporate has for e-books. with some editors.
The investigation is the newest antitrust investigation into Amazon to be revealed publicly. Officers in California and Washington have been scrutinizing how the corporate treats unbiased retailers utilizing its market. The Federal Commerce Fee additionally has its personal investigation into the corporate, which critics say has change into a dominant on-line retailer crushing smaller rivals.
An Amazon spokesman declined to remark. The investigation has been reported beforehand revealed within the Wall Avenue Journal.
Amazon started promoting books within the Nineties. It launched its Kindle e-book reader in 2007. The enterprise quickly attracted regulatory consideration. In 2012, the Justice Division quoted Apple as saying it had conspired with main publishers to boost the worth of e-books past the $ 9.99 Amazon charged.
Connecticut was one of many states that filed its personal lawsuit towards Apple. Tong, a Democrat, mentioned in a press release that his workplace “continues to aggressively monitor this market to guard truthful competitors for shoppers, authors and different e-book retailers.”
