Four of the five publishing houses accused of forming a price fixing cartel with Apple—Harper Collins, Simon & Schuster, Hachette Livre, and Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holzbrinck—have agreed to revise their contracts with European retailers in such a way that would allow stores selling e-books to offer discounts for a period of two years.
Joaquin Almunia, the European Commissioner for Competition, stated that, "the commitments proposed by Apple and the four publishers will restore normal competitive conditions in this new and fast-moving market, to the benefit of the buyers and readers of e-books".
The fifth publisher, Penguin, was not part of the agreement and the Commission is still working with the company to reach an accord.
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