Explaining that it has received a “voluminous” amount of comments regarding the e-book price-fixing charges it filed against Apple and five publishers, the Department of Justice has asked Judge Denise Cote to allow the department to bypass print publication of the letters in the Federal Register in favor of posting them on the antitrust division Web site along with printing the address of the site in the Register. According to the DoJ, it has already received over 150 letters totaling about 200 pages and expects “a similar or greater” amount before the comment period expires on June 25. Cost of printing the letters received to date would be over $100,000, the DoJ said, and both sides have agreed to forgo print publication.
The letters are technically about the Final Judgment reached by the government with Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and HarperCollins. Excluding the need for print publication of the comments, the government explained, will ensure a timely filing of the DoJ’s motion for entry of the proposed judgment. Judge Cote has set a July 27 deadline for the final motion to be filed.
