District Judge John Coughenour denied Apple and Amazon's request to dismiss their potential class-action lawsuit. He added that the "validity" of the market, a central issue in an antitrust dispute, must be considered by a jury.
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| Apple and Amazon accused of colluding to fix iPhone prices. |
The lawsuit was filed in November 2022, and the case will now enter the evidence gathering phase and other pre-trial proceedings.
According to Steve Berman, a lawyer representing U.S. citizens who purchased iPhones and iPads on Amazon since January 2019, the court ruling is a "major victory for Apple phone and iPad users." They argue that the agreement, which took effect that year, limited the number of competing sellers and violated antitrust provisions.
According to the lawsuit, there were approximately 600 Apple sellers on Amazon in 2018. Apple agreed to allow Amazon to lower product prices if the e-commerce platform reduced the number of Apple resellers on its marketplace.
Apple says the agreement aims to reduce the sale of counterfeit Apple products on its platform. Apple's lawyers called the agreement "commonplace" and legal. According to the Seattle state judge, the motives behind the agreement will be addressed later in the trial.
In their most recent earnings reports, Apple recorded revenue of $94.8 billion and Amazon recorded revenue of $127.4 billion.
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