Barnes & Noble says it is not happy with the settlement that the U.S. Department of Justice has proposed to settle the antitrust lawsuit it filed against Apple and several other publishers.  The lawsuit claims that Apple Inc. and several publishers colluded to fix e-book pricing. 

Apple had gone into agreement with publishers so they can set the price of their digital book and in-turn Apple would take a 30 percent cut.  This agreement, called the "agency model," wasn't exactly causing harm to Barnes & Noble and other digital booksellers.  Apparently, the 26-page letter showed a little anger at the Department of Justice for trying to regulate an industry "that it little understands."

The letter also gives evidence discrediting the DOJ's conclusion that after the introduction of "agency pricing," the cost of e-books have risen substantially. It also states that the industry's transition to agency pricing has lowered Amazon's share in the digital book market from 90 percent to 60 percent. Barnes and Nobles says that its market share has steadily increased thanks to a more equitable approach to pricing.

Before "agency pricing," Barnes and Noble said it was "losing substantial money in an effort to compete with Amazon's pricing and was unable to gain significant market share."  According to the Huffington Post the letter sent to the Department of Justice on Thursday states that the settlement would create, "higher overall average e-book and hardback prices and less choice, both in how to obtain books and in what books are available." 

HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster and Hachette Book Group have all agreed to settle. Macmillan and Apple plan to keep up with their good fight.