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Amazon, Independent Publishers Group reach settlement

The e-commerce giant had refused to sell e-book versions of titles distributed by IPG, which represents more than 500 publishers.

Edward Moyer Senior Editor
Edward Moyer is a senior editor at CNET and a many-year veteran of the writing and editing world. He enjoys taking sentences apart and putting them back together. He also likes making them from scratch. ¶ For nearly a quarter of a century, he's edited and written stories about various aspects of the technology world, from the US National Security Agency's controversial spying techniques to historic NASA space missions to 3D-printed works of fine art. Before that, he wrote about movies, musicians, artists and subcultures.
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Edward Moyer
 

Amazon has reached a settlement with the Independent Publishers Group over sales of the e-book versions of the nearly 5,000 titles distributed by IPG.

In February, Amazon stopped selling digital versions of titles distributed by IPG, which represents more than 500 publishers, owing to a disagreement about terms. As The Wall Street Journal points out in its report (subscription required), publishing terms cover such things as wholesale pricing, payment requirements, and marketing.

The Journal paraphrases an unnamed source as saying that IPG's terms, in February, were not as good as those from rival distributors. But IPG's president said then that they were in keeping with his rivals' terms.

Details of the deal between Amazon and IPG were not disclosed.