According to some reports, three major international publishes are looking to resolve their differences with the U. S. Department of Justice on e-book price contracts with Apple.

Reports citing sources said that CBS Corp’s Simon & Schuster, News Corp.’s HarperCollins and Lagardère SCA’s Hachette Book Group might finalize an accord put forward by the a Justice Department in the coming week.

Sources said that the Justice officials may delay the accord until an agreement is reached with publishers that include other like Pearson Plc (PSON)’s Penguin Group and Macmillan, owned by Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck GmbH.

The reports say that the accord will allow Amazon. com and other retailers to offer lower prices for digital versions of books. This would force Apple to stop selling books or match lower prices causing loss on sale of each book to the company. Reportedly, Apple has failed to reach agreement with regulators investigating charges of price-fixing involving e-book titles.

The U. S. Justice Department coordinated its probe of Apple and six big publishers with the European Commission. The authority has not announced any details on the matter. Gina Talamona, a Justice Department spokeswoman has not commented on the matter.