Judge greenlights FTC’s antitrust suit against Amazon


A federal judge gave the Federal Trade Commission the green light to pursue antitrust claims against Amazon, a newly unsealed order reveals, though some claims under state laws won’t move forward.
Amazon filed a motion to dismiss the 2023 lawsuit, which alleges the company illegally maintains a monopoly by punishing sellers who discount products outside of Amazon and “effectively requires” them to use its own fulfillment services for coveted positioning on the site. Judge John Chun denied Amazon’s attempts to dismiss several federal claims that were based on the FTC Act and the Sherman Act. Chun did deny some claims that Amazon violated state law, the result of state-level attorneys general signing on to the suit. But he gave them a chance to try again on at least some of those claims.
“We are pleased with the court’s decision and look forward to moving this case forward,” FTC spokesperson Douglas Farrar said in a statement. “The ways Amazon illegally maintains its monopolies and the harm they cause — including suppressed competition and higher prices for shoppers and sellers — will be on full display at trial. This case ultimately seeks to pry loose Amazon’s monopolistic control and restore competition.”
Amazon spokesperson Tim Doyle pointed out in a statement that the “early stage” ruling “requires the court to assume all facts alleged in the complaint are true. They are not.” Doyle said the FTC suit does not accurately account for how consumers shop. “Moving forward the FTC will have to prove its claims in court, and we’re confident those claims will not hold up when the FTC has to prove them with evidence,” Doyle said. “The truth is that Amazon’s practices are good for competition, consumers, and the small- and medium-sized businesses that sell in our store, while the FTC’s approach would make shopping more difficult and costly.”
While this decision means that the FTC will get the chance to continue making its case in court, it doesn’t necessarily indicate how the judge will rule based on the evidence. For example, the judge writes that when viewing allegations that Amazon forces sellers to use its services “in the light most favorable” to the government, the claims are “plausibly” anticompetitive. But, Chun notes, any pro-competitive business justifications for its policies “are improper to consider at this stage” — they’ll become relevant at trial.
Like Google’s recent antitrust trials, Chun said the Amazon case would be bifurcated — meaning he’d only consider remedies if Amazon is found liable for the charges.
A federal judge gave the Federal Trade Commission the green light to pursue antitrust claims against Amazon, a newly unsealed order reveals, though some claims under state laws won’t move forward. Amazon filed a motion to dismiss the 2023 lawsuit, which alleges the company illegally maintains a monopoly by punishing…
Recent Posts
- Nvidia confirms ‘rare’ RTX 5090 and 5070 Ti manufacturing issue
- I used NoteBookLM to help with productivity – here’s 5 top tips to get the most from Google’s AI audio tool
- Reddit is experiencing outages again
- OpenAI confirms 400 million weekly ChatGPT users – here’s 5 great ways to use the world’s most popular AI chatbot
- Elon Musk’s AI said he and Trump deserve the death penalty
Archives
- February 2025
- January 2025
- December 2024
- November 2024
- October 2024
- September 2024
- August 2024
- July 2024
- June 2024
- May 2024
- April 2024
- March 2024
- February 2024
- January 2024
- December 2023
- November 2023
- October 2023
- September 2023
- August 2023
- July 2023
- June 2023
- May 2023
- April 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- January 2023
- December 2022
- November 2022
- October 2022
- September 2022
- August 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- September 2018
- October 2017
- December 2011
- August 2010