The Justice Department’s lawsuits against five of the big six publishers over the eBook agency pricing model, Barnes & Noble has been put in a tough spot.

The Wall Street Journal has more: “Barnes & Noble Inc. bore the brunt of Wednesday’s antitrust settlement between the U.S. government and three major book publishers, losing 6.4% of its market value on Thursday alone and tumbling 17% this month.”

The movement away from an agency pricing model favors Amazon, who can afford to offer competitive discounts on bestsellers. The giant may be slow to jump on the opportunity. James McQuivey, principal analyst at Forrester, told Digital Book World, ”Amazon is going to want to bring prices down but they’re going to do it strategically. Amazon will lower prices with some best-sellers first, but they’re not going to cut across the board.”