The Justice Department accuses Apple, Inc. of conspiring with book publishers to illegally fix prices for e-books sold through Apple's online book store. Apple's preferred business model, referred to as the "agency model," allows publishers to set the price of their products of which Apple receives a thirty percent commission. The Justice Department claims that this is an illegal scheme, the product of a conspiracy by Apple and publishers. The Justice Department fails to recognize that the agency model is already used by Apple and other online retailers to set prices for music, movies, TV shows, games, magazines and computer software. The Justice Department apparently deems e-books to be different in such a way that the agency model cannot be legally used to sell them.
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