TapTechNews October 8th news, a US federal judge has approved the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)'s request to file an antitrust lawsuit against Amazon.
Amazon had tried to dismiss the lawsuit filed by the FTC in 2023, where the lawsuit alleges that Amazon illegally maintains a monopoly position by penalizing sellers who discount their products outside of Amazon and requiring them to use Amazon's own logistics services to obtain favorable display positions on the website. Judge John Chun dismissed Amazon's request to dismiss some federal charges based partly on the Federal Trade Commission Act and the Sherman Antitrust Act.
FTC spokesman Douglas Farrar said in a statement: We are satisfied with the court's ruling and look forward to advancing this case. The way Amazon illegally maintains its monopoly position and the resulting damage - including suppressed competition and increased prices for consumers and sellers - will be fully demonstrated in the trial. This case ultimately aims to pry open Amazon's monopoly control and restore competition.
Amazon spokesman Tim Doyle noted in a statement that the ruling at the early stage requires the court to assume that all the facts alleged in the complaint are true. This is not the case. Doyle said that the FTC's lawsuit does not accurately consider the way consumers shop. In the future, the FTC will have to prove its claims in court, and we believe that when the FTC has to prove its claims with evidence, these claims will not hold up. Doyle said, The fact is that Amazon's practices are beneficial to competition, consumers, and small and medium-sized businesses that sell in our store, while the FTC's approach will make shopping more difficult and expensive.
TapTechNews noted that, like Google's recent antitrust trial, Judge John Chun said that the Amazon case will be divided into two phases, the first phase to determine whether Amazon is responsible for the accusations, and only if it is found responsible will the second phase to consider remedial measures enter.