European Commission opens anti-trust e-book investigation into Apple and publishers

The European Commission has opened a formal anti-trust investigation into whether various publishers, including Penguin, Simon & Schuster and Hachette Livre, deliberately engaged in anti-competitive practices with Apple in the e-books market.

The decision follows unannounced inspections across Europe by EC investigators in March of this year.

The EC said that it had worked closely with the UK Office of Fair Trading in investigating potential anti-competitive practices in the e-books industry.

Investigators will now look into whether the publishers, which include the News Corp-owned Harper Collins, colluded with Apple in "illegal agreements or practices" which could have restricted competition in the EU.

The EC is also investigating the agency agreements signed by the publishers and retailers regarding the sale of e-books, saying in a statement that it "has concerns that these practices may breach EU anti-trust rules that prohibit cartels and restrictive business practices".

The latter point is a specific reference to the deals struck between Apple and the publishers in question to put content on the iBookstore, which was launched in 2010.

Interestingly, there is no mention of Amazon in the statement on the investigation, despite the online retailer's agreeing similar deals with publishers for its Kindle offerings.

In related news, Asda is looking to undercut Amazon by offering the basic version of Kindle rival the Kobo reader for just £67, more than £20 cheaper than the Amazon offering.

Asda is also offering the Touch version of the Kobo for £107, while Amazon's equivalent offering is yet to be released in the UK.