The Impact of the Inclusive Access Antitrust Lawsuit on US College Bookstores, Book Publishers, and Educational Publishers

Abstract

On July 1, 2016, the US Department of Education’s “Rule 164” went into effect. This rule stipulated that: colleges “may include the costs of books and supplies as part of tuition and fees;” the books or supplies must be “below competitive market rates…” And a student may opt out of the program. This procedure became known as Inclusive Access (IA). The legality of IA was challenged in a series of 9 Federal Court cases; the plaintiffs argued that the defendants, college bookstores and college textbook publishers, violated the US antitrust laws. The lawsuits were consolidated into “In Re Inclusive Access Course Materials Antitrust Litig.; 20 MDL No. 2946, DCL; United States District Court Southern District of New York. On June 14, 2021, District Judge Denise Cote ruled in favor of the defendants, making IA legal in the US.