ABA files motion to intervene in FTC suit against Amazon
Apr 30 2024
The American Booksellers Association has filed a motion to intervene in the Federal Trade Commission’s antitrust suit against Amazon, a move that the association said supports the FTC’s case and “looks to bolster its claim that Amazon is guilty of unlawful exclusionary conduct by explicitly including the concerns of independent booksellers in the case.”
The FTC and 17 state Attorneys General (now 18 after Vermont joined) filed the antitrust suit against Amazon last September, accusing the company of building and protecting a monopoly in various ways, including: forcing independent retailers on its online marketplace not to sell for lower prices elsewhere; favoring its own branded products over those from other retailers in searches; and requiring that retailers’ products sold via Amazon Prime be handled and delivered by Amazon. The suit also said that many retailers have felt required to buy various Amazon services, including ads on its sites. In a statement at the time of the filing, the FTC called Amazon “a monopolist that uses a set of interlocking anticompetitive and unfair strategies to illegally maintain its monopoly power.”