The European Commission has accepted a settlement with Penguin that will see the end of the publisher's controversial pricing plan with Apple.
This makes Penguin the fifth and final book publisher to settle in the investigation, which has been running for a tedious 16 months.
The deal included a contract that prevented other retailers such as Amazon from selling the publisher's ebooks at prices lower than that found on Apple's iBookstore.
But while this will bring an end to the EU case, the battle will continue in the US where Apple is yet to settle. Tim Cook has been called to testify before the court.
Testify
Penguin gave us the following statement, confirming that a deal with the European Commission had been reached:
"Penguin confirms that, subject to the market test currently underway, it has reached an agreement with the European Commission to settle its investigation into the establishment of agency pricing agreements for ebooks.
"Penguin's position that it has done nothing wrong remains unchanged and the company continues to believe that the agency pricing model operates in the best interests of consumers and authors.
"While we disagree with some elements of the Commission's analysis, we are settling as a procedural matter to clear the decks in anticipation of our proposed merger with Random House."
Via Reuters
