Apparently Apple isn’t the only company thinking the US Department of Justice’s recently imposed remedies against it were “draconian.” US publishers HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, Penguin and others have also ganged up on the DOJ with a legal brief opposing the punitive restrictions. In it, they say the watchdog is “attempting to impose a specific business model on the publishing industry,” despite assertions it wouldn’t play that role. If you’ll recall, Apple was recently found guilty of price-fixing following charges filed last year. Now, the Justice Department is trying to force Apple to end its current agreements with the publishers and let rival e-book retailers like Amazon link to their own online stores. Apple earlier condemned the decision, saying it was “wildly out of proportion to any… wrongdoing or potential harm.”
