苹果与多家出版商被控操纵电子书价格

　　Publishers sued over ebook price ‘collusion’

　　The US Department of Justice sued Apple and five of the world’s largest book publishers yesterday, alleging that they colluded to increase the price of ebooks and cost consumers “tens of millions of dollars”.

　　美国司法部(US Department of Justice)昨日起诉苹果(Apple)和5家世界上最大的图书出版商，指控他们串通一气抬高电子书价格，导致消费者遭受“数千万美元”的损失。

　　The complaint, filed in the Southern District of New York, alleges Apple and publishing executives agreed on a common response to Amazon’s pricing policy over phone calls, emails and meals in the “private dining rooms of upscale Manhattan ­restaurants”.

　　美国司法部向纽约南区法院(Southern District of New York)提起诉讼，称苹果和出版业高管们利用电话、电邮和在“曼哈顿一些高级餐厅的包房”里共同进餐的机会，商定了对亚马逊(Amazon)定价政策的统一回应。

　　Amazon, which had challenged the industry with a maximum ebook price of $9.99, is not named as a defendant.

　　以“每本电子书售价不超过9.99美元”的定价政策挑战了电子书行业的亚马逊，不在美国司法部的起诉名单上。

　　The publishers named in the suit are Hachette Book Group, part of Lagardère; HarperCollins, owned by News Corp; Holtzbrinck, owner of Macmillan; Simon and Schuster, a CBS subsidiary; and Penguin, owned by Pearson, the parent company of the Financial Times.

　　被列为被告的出版商有：拉加德尔集团(Lagardère)旗下的阿歇特图书集团(Hachette Book Group)，隶属新闻集团(News Corp)的哈珀柯林斯(HarperCollins)，麦克米伦(Macmillan)的母公司霍尔茨布林克(Holtzbrinck)，美国哥伦比亚广播公司(CBS)旗下的西蒙与舒斯特出版社(Simon and Schuster)，英国《金融时报》母公司培生集团旗下的企鹅出版社(Penguin)。

　　The DoJ alleged that Apple and the publishers raised the price of best-selling titles $2 to $5 each by introducing, at the same time Apple launched its iPad tablet, an “agency” business model in which publishers set retail prices. Apple’s insistence on a “most favoured nation” clause in which publishers agreed not to sell on cheaper terms elsewhere – while giving Apple a 30 per cent commission on every sale – forced other retailers to adopt the same terms, the DoJ added.

　　美国司法部指称，苹果和以上几家图书出版商在前者发布iPad平板电脑的同时，出台了一种“代理制”商业模式，让出版商确定图书零售价格，从而把畅销书单价抬高了2至5美元。美国司法部补充表示，苹果竭力主张一项“最惠国”条款，根据此条款，这些出版商答应不以更低的价格在别处销售电子书（同时每笔销售向苹果支付相当于书价30%的佣金），从而迫使其他图书零售商接受同样的条款。

　　Hachette, HarperCollins and Simon and Schuster settled with the DoJ, leaving Apple, Macmillan and Penguin to fight in court. Not all of the publishers were immediately available for comment, but have previously denied conspiring to raise prices and argue the “agency” model promoted competition by challenging Amazon dominance .

　　阿歇特、哈珀柯林斯和西蒙与舒斯特同美国司法部达成了和解，剩下苹果、麦克米伦和企鹅三家上庭迎战。我们一时之间未能联系到上述所有出版商请其置评，但它们早先曾否认串通抬价，并辩称“代理制”模式挑战了亚马逊的垄断地位，促进了竞争。

　　The US suit claims that Steve Jobs, Apple’s late chief executive, personally facilitated the agency model. “Apple clearly understood that its participation in this scheme would result in higher prices to consumers,” the suit says. It also quotes Jobs as saying that “the customer pays a little more, but that’s what you [publishers] want anyway”. An Apple spokesman declined to comment.

　　美国司法部的诉状称，已故的苹果前首席执行官史蒂夫•乔布斯(Steve Jobs)也为促成代理制出了一把力。诉状写道：“苹果显然明白，它参与这一计划将导致消费者支付更高的价格。”诉状还提到，乔布斯曾说过这样的话，“消费者是要付多一点钱，但那不正是你们（出版商）所希望的吗”。苹果的一名发言人拒绝置评。