HarperCollins did not force Amazon to a new business model at Apple’s behest, the publisher’s CEO told a federal judge yesterday.
The company, unhappy with the e-tailer’s pricing structure, was withholding books from Amazon well before Apple became an e-book rival, Brian Murray, the HarperCollins CEO testified.
Apple has been charged by the Justice Department with conspiring with five large publishers in 2010 to set the price of e-books.
Amazon, which controlled 90 percent of the e-book market at the time, bought books from the publishers wholesale and set its own prices — usually $9.99 for new releases.
Under Apple’s agency model, publishers set the retail price — at $12.99 to $14.99.
Justice lawyers are trying to lay out how publishers were left only two options for dealing with Amazon — move to Apple’s agency model or delay Amazon’s access to new releases.
Murray told the court: “We felt we had [other] options to present to Amazon.” He said HarperCollins fought against the Apple deal but ultimately signed.
The CEO said he but was able to adjust Apple’s stringent business terms with so-called, “Author Outs,” which meant not at all new releases would sell under the agency model.
Each of the five publishers settled their case, leaving Apple as the sole defendant.
HarperCollins, like The Post, is owned by News Corp.
The trial, overseen by Judge Denise Cote without a jury, continues today.