FTC cartel suspicion

Amazon partially successful against US competition authority

The US online retail giant Amazon has achieved a partial victory in its dispute with the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over possible anti-competitive practices. A federal court in Seattle under District Judge John Chun granted a motion by Amazon and dismissed some of the claims.

According to court documents, however, the FTC may continue to pursue all claims that the judge has not permanently dismissed. Details of the ruling initially remained unclear.

The FTC had argued, among other things, that Amazon was using anti-competitive tactics to maintain its dominance among online superstores and marketplaces. Amazon had requested that the complaint be dismissed as the authority had not provided any evidence of consumer harm.

The case is one of five lawsuits in which the antitrust authorities of the FTC and the US Department of Justice are taking action against major technology companies such as Amazon and Google.