Amazon Wins Dismissal of an Antitrust Lawsuit

Amazon has won dismissal of an antitrust lawsuit bright against the company by the District of Columbia, alleging that Amazon harmed consumers by blocking sellers on its marketplace from better deals elsewhere.

According to the filing, the proceeding was settled by Judge Hiram Puig Lugo of the D.C. Superior Court. The request was rejected by DC Attorney General Karl Racine, who said the office was considering an appeal.

Amazon argued in a motion to dismiss Washington, DC's proceedings that the price limit for contracts with retail sellers is general and completely legal. It also said that the lawsuit can hurt customers if it succeeded.

Still, Amazon's practice is that the case is anti-competitive when other major tech companies, such as Facebook's parent company Meta Platforms Inc. and Alphabet Inc.'s Google unit, have been repeatedly sued by federal and state authorities. This is an early attempt to challenge. Both companies have denied anti-competitive behaviour.

Amazon explicitly prohibited US sellers from offering products at a lower price or better terms elsewhere online until 2019, the lawsuit says. It further says that the company replaced it with a new policy called “Fair Pricing Policy” which was ab effectively identical substitute.

Amazon claimed that the “Fair Price Policy’ is designed to protect consumers from being overcharged and to give sellers information so that their offers can be features. The policy also decides which offers to feature based on price, delivery speed and other factors.