A federal judge in Seattle has ruled that Amazon and Apple will face an antitrust lawsuit accusing the two tech giants of inflating iPhone and iPad prices on Amazon’s e-commerce site, the latest complaint accusing Amazon of monopolistic practices.
Highlights
- In a document filed Thursday, plaintiffs said an iPad someone bought from Amazon was overpriced because of a “global tenant agreement,” an agreement that requires Amazon to allow only Apple-authorized retailers to use Amazon’s marketplace, in return for which Apple supplies products. Amazon discounted price.
- The plaintiffs add that the deal caused an artificial price increase and eliminated or lowered any lower prices the sellers could have offered — noting that the number of third-party Apple sellers on Amazon dropped from several hundred to just seven after the agreement went into effect.
- Apple argued in a March denial that the agreement limited the number of authorized resellers in order to limit the sale of counterfeit Apple products.
- The case still has to go through evidence collection procedures.
- Amazon declined to comment on the lawsuit, while Apple did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Forbes.
main context
This lawsuit isn’t the only one Amazon has to contend with in terms of pricing practices. Two months ago, a California state court judge denied Amazon’s request to dismiss another antitrust lawsuit brought by California Attorney General Rob Ponta, alleging that the company forced third-party sellers to adopt policies that resulted in “artificially high prices.” Agreements reached with sellers can threaten penalties for merchants who offer lower prices for their products on other websites. If the lawsuit is successful, Amazon said it would have to raise its prices, arguing that consumers would end up paying more for their products. In April, Ponta disclosed what he said was additional evidence in his antitrust lawsuit against Amazon. One of the points Mr. Ponta insisted on had to do with the effects of Amazon’s pricing policy. In fact, Bonta cited an internal memo from Amazon stating that its branding team had received complaints that its policy encouraged sellers to drive up prices on its competitors’ sites.
A large number
127.4 billion dollars (118.5 billion euros). This is how much revenue Amazon recorded in the first quarter of this year.
Translated article from the American magazine Forbes – Author: Antonio Peccino IV
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