The appeals court renewed the antitrust case against Amazon filed by the Attorney General of Washington, DC more than three years ago. The online retailer now has to face allegations that it illegally inflated prices for consumers.
The lawsuit was first filed in 2021 and cited Amazon’s practices related to third-party sellers on its site. Specifically, it called for a provision in the company’s agreements with third-party sellers that allow it to penalize businesses that offer their products at lower prices on non-Amazon platforms. Karl Racine, the AG at the time, said the deals allow the company to “set the highest prices in the entire online retail market.” Racine later expanded the case to include Amazon’s pricing tactics on retailers.
Amazon disputed those allegations, and the case was dismissed in 2022. But the appeals court overturned that decision. “Taken as a whole, the District’s allegations about Amazon’s market share and maintenance of its market power through the challenged agreements clearly suggest that Amazon already has a dominant position in the online marketplace or is close to a ‘dangerous possibility of attaining dominant position,'” the judge wrote.
“We disagree with the District of Columbia’s allegations and look forward to presenting the facts in court that show how good these policies are for consumers,” Amazon spokesman Tim Doyle told Engadget in a statement. “Like any store owner who doesn’t want to. promote a bad deal to their customers, we don’t highlight or promote offers that aren’t competitively priced. It’s part of our commitment to showing the lowest prices to earn and maintain customer trust, which we believe is the right decision for both buyers and sellers in the long run.”
The setback adds to Amazon’s woes of unreliability. The company also faces lawsuits from the Federal Trade Commission and more than a dozen states. The UK’s antitrust regulator has also opened an investigation into the company’s $4 billion investment in Anthropic.
In a statement, current DC AG Brian Schwalb noted that the district was “the first state to take antitrust action” against the company. “Now, our case will move forward, and we will continue to fight to stop Amazon’s unfair and illegal practices that have raised prices for consumers in the District and stifled innovation and choice in all online retail.”
Update, August 22 2024, 7:13 PM ET: This story has been updated to include a statement from Amazon.
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