A recommendation and report from a U.S. magistrate judge prompts litigation to move forward

E-book purchasers celebrated a victory in an antitrust class-action lawsuit brought against Amazon.com Inc. when a judge recommended greenlighting claims by certifying the class, according to attorneys at Hagens Berman.

In an Oct. 1, 2026, report and recommendation report, Magistrate Judge Gabriel W. Gorenstein advised that the proposed class of more than 30 million consumers who purchased e-books via Amazon should be confirmed, a major milestone in class litigation. The 35-page document highlights the sheer scale and scope of the lawsuit that alleges Amazon has anticompetitive agreements with the five largest e-book publishers that prevent the sale of their e-books at lower prices on other retail platforms. Attorneys accuse Amazon of using these agreements to maintain its dominance in the e-books market in which Amazon’s Kindle platform competes against other electronic platforms to transact sales between trade e-book publishers and retail consumers.

The class would include those who purchased at least one trade e-book sold by the Big Five — Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster — via an agency model through Amazon.com on or after Jan. 14, 2017, through the date of class certification, and paid between $4.00 and $49.99. Trade e-books, or “general-interest” non-textbook reference material, are the largest category in U.S. publishing, including fiction and non-fiction genres, including thrillers, biographies, history, romance, science and children’s literature.

Judge Gorenstein’s report also recommends granting plaintiffs’ request to appoint Hagens Berman and Sperling & Slater as co-lead class counsel.

Throwing the Book at Amazon

The report and recommendation details findings from plaintiffs’ expert Dr. Jamie McClave who assessed “whether and to what extent prices may have been elevated by the alleged conduct,” by building a model using 658 million Amazon e-book transactions, spanning nearly a decade.

“McClave also ‘calculate[d] damages to the Class by multiplying the aggregate overcharge estimate for each Publisher by the revenue for the relevant eBook sales for that Publisher during the Class Period,’” the magistrate’s report and recommendation states. “She determined that Amazon customers paid over $740 million more (in aggregate) for trade eBooks published by the Big Five than they would have in a competitive market.”

The nationwide class-action lawsuit against Amazon and the “Big Five” publishing houses was first filed in January 2021 and claims that these anticompetitive agreements allow Amazon to charge a commission on the sale of e-books on its platform that is at least 30% and higher than it would earn in a competitive market.

“We are pleased with Judge Gorenstein’s thorough read of this case,” said Steve Berman, managing partner at Hagens Berman and one of the attorneys on the case. “We believe the writing is on the walls and hope to be able to bring this case to a just conclusion for the more than 30 million consumers who we believe have been harmed.”

Judge Gorenstein’s report and recommendation, details findings by another of plaintiffs’ experts, highlighting Amazon’s vast market share: “Wickelgren puts Amazon’s market share ‘consistently within the range of 69-74%’ throughout the class period. Wickelgren also examines indirect evidence of Amazon’s monopoly power, including ‘network effects,’ Amazon’s ‘use of proprietary software and eBook reading devices to limit consumer switching,’ and its ‘ability to disincentive consumer search outside of Amazon’s platform.’”

The report also includes information regarding Amazon’s pricing contract dynamics, with information from depositions taken by plaintiffs’ attorneys and redacted percent profit information: “This picture changed dramatically the next year as Amazon replaced the HSOR [Hybrid Seller of Record] contracts with the TSOR [Tiered Seller of Record] contracts. Amazon virtually stopped price-matching.”

“Consequently, Amazon’s “effective commission on eBook sales increased sharply and then stabilized at a materially higher level,” the filing states. “Profits soared… Plaintiffs attribute this trend to provisions of the TSOR contracts which allegedly ‘minimize[ed] how often Amazon needed to discount to match competitors’ lower prices,’ allowing Amazon to ‘retain[] virtually all of its commission.’”

In the report and recommendation, Judge Gorenstein said that “In the end, because the antitrust damages model constructed by McClave is consistent with plaintiffs’ theory of antitrust impact, plaintiffs have shown that common issues predominate in establishing antitrust damages.”

Find out more about the lawsuit against Amazon for allegedly fixing the price of e-books.

About Hagens Berman

Hagens Berman is a global plaintiffs’ rights complex litigation law firm with a tenacious drive for achieving real results for those harmed by corporate negligence and fraud. Since its founding in 1993, the firm’s determination has earned it numerous national accolades, awards and titles of “Most Feared Plaintiff’s Firm,” MVPs and Trailblazers of class-action law. More about the law firm and its successes can be found at hbsslaw.com. Follow the firm for updates and news at @ClassActionLaw.

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“We believe the writing is on the walls and hope to be able to bring this case to a just conclusion for the more than 30 million consumers who we believe have been harmed,” said Steve Berman, managing partner and co-founder of Hagens Berman.