U.S. District Judge John Coughenour denied a bid by Apple and Amazon to dismiss the potential class action, adding that the “validity” of the market at the heart of an antitrust dispute must be considered by a jury.
 |
| Apple, Amazon accused of colluding to fix iPhone prices |
The lawsuit was filed in November 2022 and the case will move into evidence collection and other pre-trial proceedings.
Steve Berman, a lawyer for US citizens who bought iPhones and iPads on Amazon since January 2019, called the court’s ruling “a big win for Apple phone and iPad users.” They argued that the agreement, which took effect that year, limited the number of competing sellers and violated antitrust laws.
According to the lawsuit, there were about 600 Apple sellers on Amazon in 2018. Apple agreed to let Amazon reduce product prices if the e-commerce platform reduced the number of Apple resellers on its marketplace.
Apple said the settlement was aimed at reducing counterfeit Apple products on its platform. Apple’s attorney called the deal “common” and legal. The Seattle judge said the parties’ motives for the deal would be addressed later in the trial.
In its most recent earnings report, Apple recorded revenue of $94.8 billion and Amazon recorded revenue of $127.4 billion.
Source
Comment (0)