The Justice Department announced Wednesday that it will file suit against Apple and several top publishers, alleging that their pricing of iPad books is illegal price collusion. E-book prices differ from the prices of physical books because they are set by the publisher, rather than the seller, in a system pushed by the late Steve Jobs. Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, and Penguin are also included in the suit, which was announced the day after Apple’s value surpassed $600 billion.
