OVERNIGHT TECH: Authors’ group slams Amazon, DOJ suit

THE LEAD: A trade association representing published authors urged its members on Monday to oppose the Justice Department’s proposed settlement with a group of electronic book publishers.

The Authors Guild claimed the Justice Department’s antitrust suit will only help Amazon to further dominate the marketplace for e-books.

{mosads}”The Justice Department is sanctioning the destructive, anticompetitive campaign of a corporate giant with billions in cash and boundless ambitions,” the group said in a statement. “The situation is bizarre, and without precedent, to our knowledge: the Justice Department is intervening to help entrench a monopolist.”

The Justice Department filed suit in May against Apple and two publishers, Macmillan and Penguin Group, for the alleged price-fixing of e-books. Three other publishers, Hachette, HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster, agreed to the government’s terms to avoid litigation.

Prosecutors said Apple and the five publishers were unhappy that Amazon was driving down the price of e-books. According to the government’s complaint, the companies conspired to set up a new business model, raising the price of e-books by about $2 to $3 per book, costing consumers millions of dollars.

But the Authors Guild argued that the new business model, called “agency pricing,” was an attempt to save the publishing industry from “Amazon’s predatory tactic” of selling the e-books at a loss.

“Agency pricing brought real competition, steadily loosening Amazon’s chokehold on the e-book market: its share fell from 90% to roughly 60% in two years,” the group wrote. “Agency pricing has given bookstores a fighting chance.”

The Authors Guild said the proposed settlement between the Justice Department and the three publishers would allow Amazon to “resume its predatory practices.”

Amazon and the Justice Department did not immediately return requests to comment.

Microsoft plans music service: Microsoft revealed Monday that plans to release a music streaming service for its Xbox game console, according to multiple media reports. The service, which will be similar to Spotify, will also be available for Windows 8 and Windows Phone.

The announcement comes ahead of a House Energy and Commerce hearing on Wednesday to examine the future of audio. 

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

Lawmakers and family advocates expressed concern about Facebook’s plan to allow children to access its site.

Rep. Jim Langevin (D-R.I.) said “time is running out” for cybersecurity legislation.

A lobbyist asked lawmakers to re-tweet an anti-piracy study.