On Thursday, April 20th, 2023, Amazon won a private consumer antitrust lawsuit in the Seattle federal court. The company was accused of artificially driving up the costs of goods sold by other retailers with allegedly shady pricing practices. The plaintiffs filed “an injunction to prohibit Amazon from continuing its unlawful conduct”, according to the lawsuit. Earlier this year, Amazon lost its attempt to toss out the consumer antitrust lawsuit due to a lack of merit.
This is one of many private and state actions brought against Amazon for alleged competitive law violations. Amazon stands firm in its stance that the company has not violated any laws regarding laws and standard business practices while claiming this antitrust lawsuit “suffers from myriad fatal legal defects” and the Seattle court appears to agree with them.
Last March, U.S. District Judge Richard Jones ruled to proceed with the antitrust class action. An estimated $55 to $172 billion in damages to the plaintiffs claiming that retailers who wanted their products available on Amazon couldn’t offer their same goods for a lower price elsewhere.
The lawsuit outlined alleges Amazon was counting “the online sales of third-party products to the Fulfillment by Amazon program”, and in doing so financially harmed “hundreds of millions of its loyal customers.”
U.S. District Judge Ricardo Martinez ruled in favor of Amazon on Thursday, stating that the plaintiffs did not provide enough evidence to support a lawsuit centered around a logistics issue. His order does provide the plaintiffs with the option to file an amendment to their original complaint, though no word yet on when or if that will occur.
Although Amazon has yet to make an official statement, past remarks from the company highlight their “Fair Pricing Policy” is in alignment with U.S. antitrust laws and is designed to promote competition in the market.