US District Judge Denise Cote, who is already on the record as believing that publishers conspired to fix e-book prices, has approved a settlement between three of the five major publishers and the US Department of Justice that could see e-book discounter Amazon restored to a monopoly position in the market, reports The Wall Street Journal. In the settlement, Hachette, Simon & Schuster and HarperCollins agreed to tear up their contracts with Apple and allow steep discounting of e-books for at least two years.
