Major e-book publishers have agreed to cough up $166 million in refunds as part of a price-fixing settlement with New York and 32 other states, authorities said Tuesday.
Readers will get small refunds to their Kindle, Nook and other e-book seller accounts for each book they bought, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said in a statement.
“Illegal actions by these publishers forced consumers in New York and across the nation to pay artificially inflated prices for e-books,” Schneiderman said.
“Companies engaging in such anti-competitive conduct will be punished — and starting today, those injured by their actions will start to receive full and fair compensation.”
The states sued publishing heavyweights Hachette, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, Macmillan, and Penguin as well as Apple, alleging anti-competitive activity in the booming e-book industry.
Anybody who bought an e-book from the publishers between April 1, 2010, and May 21, 2012, will get a credit of about $3 if that book was a New York Times best seller, and a credit of about 75 cents if the book was never a best seller.
Of the total settlement, New Yorkers will get about $11.5 million.
State residents who purchased e-books from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo or Apple will automatically receive a credit on their e-book accounts.
Those who bought e-books from Sony will receive refund checks in the mail.
“We will automatically apply your available credit the next time you purchase a Kindle book or a print book sold by Amazon.com, regardless of publisher,” Amazon said in a statement.
None of the publishers admitted guilt, but settled to avoid disrupting their business, they said.
Consumers could also receive a further credit from Apple after an ongoing federal price-fixing trial is resolved.
Apple decided to fight the antitrust case brought by the Justice Department, state governments and class action lawyers.
The settlements were approved in Manhattan federal court last Dec. 6.