Current:Home > StocksAmazon asks federal judge to dismiss the FTC’s antitrust lawsuit against the company-DB Wealth Institute B2 Reviews & Ratings
Amazon asks federal judge to dismiss the FTC’s antitrust lawsuit against the company
lotradecoin account View Date:2024-12-26 04:06:46
Attorneys for Amazon on Friday asked a federal judge to dismiss the Federal Trade Commission’s antitrust lawsuit against the e-commerce giant, arguing the agency is attacking policies that benefit consumers and competition.
Amazon’s response came more than two months after the FTC — joined by 17 states — filed the historic complaint against the Seattle-based company, alleging it inflates prices and stifles competition in what the agency calls the “online superstore market” and in the field of “online marketplace services.”
In its 31-page filing made in a federal court in Washington state, Amazon pushed back, arguing the conduct that the FTC has labeled anti-competitive consists of common retail practices that benefit consumers.
The FTC’s complaint, filed in September, accused the company of engaging in anti-competitive practices through measures that deter third-party sellers from offering lower prices for products on non-Amazon sites.
The agency said Amazon buried listings offered at lower prices on other sites. Simultaneously, it noted Amazon was charging merchants increasingly higher fees and driving up prices for products on its own site. It also alleged Amazon kept sellers dependent on services, such as its logistics and delivery service, which have allowed it to collect billions in revenue every year.
In its request for a dismissal, Amazon said the lawsuit faults Amazon for featuring competitive prices and declining to feature uncompetitive ones.
“Amazon promptly matches rivals’ discounts, features competitively priced deals rather than overpriced ones, and ensures best-in-class delivery for its Prime subscribers,” the company wrote in the filing. “Those practices — the targets of this antitrust Complaint— benefit consumers and are the essence of competition.”
Amazon also pushed back against allegations it conditions Prime eligibility on products — which denotes fast shipping — on whether sellers use its fulfillment service, Fulfillment by Amazon.
An unredacted version of the FTC’s lawsuit unveiled in November alleged Amazon used a tool — codenamed “Project Nessie” — to predict where it can raise prices and have other shopping sites follow suit. The agency said Amazon used the algorithm to raise prices on some products and kept the new elevated prices in place after other sites followed its lead.
In its filing Friday, Amazon said it experimented with the “automated pricing system” Nessie years ago. It posited Nessie was intended to “match to the second-lowest competitor instead of the absolute lowest” for “limited products and duration.” The company also said it stopped the experiments in 2019, and matches its prices to the lowest prices today.
Amazon also pushed back on the agency’s allegations that the company is a monopoly. It said in its filing that it faces competition from small retailers to large online and brick-and-mortar businesses like Walmart, Target, Best Buy and Apple, among others.
veryGood! (2451)
Related
- US shoppers sharply boosted spending at retailers in July despite higher prices
- Pumpkin Everything! Our Favorite Pumpkin Home, Beauty, and Fashion Items
- It's National Dog Day and a good time to remember all they give us
- What Brittany Cartwright Is Seeking in Jax Taylor Divorce
- As Baltimore’s Sewer System Buckles Under Extreme Weather, City Refuses to Help Residents With Cleanup Efforts
- Travis Kelce's New Racehorse Seemingly Nods to Taylor Swift Romance
- Leonard Riggio, who forged a bookselling empire at Barnes & Noble, dead at 83
- Does American tennis have a pickleball problem? Upstart’s boom looms out of view at the US Open
- Wisconsin’s Evers urges federal judge not to make changes at youth prison in wake of counselor death
- 'Pharma Bro' Martin Shkreli ordered to hand over copies of Wu-Tang Clan's unreleased album
Ranking
- Head of Theodore Roosevelt National Park departs North Dakota job
- Special counsel urges appeals court to reinstate classified documents case against Trump
- Pumpkin Everything! Our Favorite Pumpkin Home, Beauty, and Fashion Items
- 1 killed in interstate crash involving truck carrying ‘potentially explosive’ military devices
- Usher Cancels Atlanta Concert Hours Before Show to Rest and Heal
- US Open Tennis Tournament 2024 Packing Guide: $5.99 Stadium-Approved Must-Haves to Beat the Heat
- 23 more Red Lobster restaurants close: See the full list of 129 shuttered locations
- Man charged in Arkansas grocery store shooting sued by woman who was injured in the attack
Recommendation
-
Streamer stayed awake for 12 days straight to break a world record that doesn't exist
-
Second Romanian gymnast continuing to fight for bronze medal in Olympic floor final
-
Gwyneth Paltrow Gives Rare Look at Son Moses Before He Heads to College
-
Former North Dakota federal prosecutor who handled Peltier, Medina shootout cases dies
-
Bristol Palin Shares 15-Year-Old Son Tripp Has Moved Back to Alaska
-
As NFL's ultimate kickoff X-factor, Cordarrelle Patterson could produce big returns for Steelers
-
RHOC's Vicki Gunvalson Details Memory Loss From Deadly Health Scare That Nearly Killed Her
-
'Give him a push': Watch beachgoers help stranded shark back into the water in Nantucket