A few weeks ago, a federal judge ruled that Apple had conspired with five major book publishers to fix the prices of e-books. Today, the US Department of Justice offered up a proposal for the judge to consider when the sentencing portion of the case begins later this month and it includes what will be a way for other e-book sellers to better sell their books on iPhones and iPads.
The DOJ press release states that part of their proposal would let retailers, such as Amazon and Barnes and Noble, offer direct links to their e-book stores from their respective iOS apps for at least two years. The DOJ also proposes that Apple terminate their current agreements with the five book publishers that were named as part of the e-book price fixing plan and bar Apple from entering into new e-book agreements for five years "... which would restrain Apple from competing on price."
Finally, the DOJ proposal asks for Apple to pay for an external monitor that would check in to see if Apple is in fact not engaging in any more anti-competitive activities; Apple has yet to comment on the DOJ"s press release. Before and during the trial, Apple denied the government"s charges that it has tried to fix e-book prices.
Source: DOJ | Image via Apple