Physical copies of titles such as "Maleficent" and "Captain
America: The Winter Soldier" were unavailable for order on
Amazon.com on Sunday. Digital copies of some of the movies in
question were still available for pre-order.
Amazon.com did not immediately respond to a request for comment
on the report. A Disney spokesman had no comment.
Amazon has been waging a battle against Hachette, the
fourth-largest U.S. book publisher, over the price the online
retailer can charge for e-books. Hachette is owned by France's
Lagardere.
A group called Authors United ran a two-page ad in the New York
Times on Sunday, criticizing Amazon for halting pre-orders from
some Hachette authors and slowing delivery of books by Hachette
authors. The ad was signed by more than 900 writers, including
Stephen King and Donna Tartt.
Amazon says pricing e-books at $14.99 or $19.99 is too
expensive. It argues that cheaper e-books sell more copies and
so ultimately generate more revenue and more royalties for
authors.
(Reporting by Luciana Lopez; Additional reporting by Lisa
Richwine and Ronald Grover in Los Angeles; Editing by Alison
Williams and Sonya Hepinstall)
[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
![](column_spacer.png) |