States reach $69 million e-book pricing settlement with publishers

E-book-buying consumers in 49 states (all except Minnesota) and five territories are set to receive $69 million as the result of a settlement between the states and HarperCollins, Hachette and Simon & Schuster.

If the settlement is approved, the three publishers, who are also settling with the Department of Justice in the federal antitrust suit, will pay a total of $69 million to consumers who bought agency-priced e-books between April 1, 2010 and May 21, 2012. If the settlement is approved, eligible Connecticut e-book buyers would receive up to $1.26 million in total compensation, for example, while Washington e-book buyers would receive up to $2 million, Maryland e-book buyers would receive up to $1.64 million and Hawaii e-book buyers would receive up to $300,000. In addition, the settling publishers would pay $7.5 million in court fees. How will consumers be paid? Baltimore’s ABC News reports that “in most cases, consumers may choose to receive the value of their restitution by check or by crediting the amount to future purchases of e-books. E-book retailers Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple and Kobo have agreed to identify and contact each eligible customer by email. Retailers Google and Sony will also notify affected customers. Sony will inform customers that checks will automatically be issued. Google customers will be directed to submit a claim on a settlement website.” Payments are set to begin 30 days after the settlement’s approval.