U.S. accuses Apple, publishers of e-book price fixing

An Apple Store employee sells Apple's new iPad to a customer at the 5th Avenue Apple Store in New York, March 16, 2012. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton

(Reuters) – Apple Inc and several major publishers were accused by

the U.S. government of conspiring to fix prices of e-books and limit retail price competition, according to a lawsuit filed

on Wednesday.

An Apple Store employee sells

Apple's new iPad to a customer at the 5th Avenue Apple Store in New York, March 16, 2012. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton

“Apple facilitated the publisher defendants’ collective effort to end retail price competition by

coordinating their transition to an agency model across all retailers,” according to the complaint, filed in Manhattan

federal court by the anti-trust division of the U.S. Department of Justice.

The publishers include Hachette Book

Group, HarperCollins, MacMillan, Penguin Group, Pearson Plc and Simon & Schuster, a unit of CBS Corp.

(Reporting

By Grant McCool; editing by

John Wallace)