A federal judge in Seattle granted in part, and denied in part, Amazon’s motion to dismiss the U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s landmark antitrust lawsuit against the e-commerce giant.
In addition, the judge went along with the FTC’s preference to split the case into two stages. The court will first determine Amazon’s liability, and then, if the company is found liable, decide on the legal remedies.
It’s being called a partial victory for Amazon, but the above is basically all that’s known right now. The order by U.S. District Judge John H. Chun in Seattle was filed Monday under seal, pending review by Amazon and the FTC to determine what should be redacted, if anything, from the version ultimately made public.
The wait will be a couple weeks, at least. Amazon and the FTC have until Oct. 14 to file a joint statement outlining the potential redactions, according to a summary of the ruling posted in the court docket.
Amazon, which disputes the entire FTC case, asked for a complete dismissal in its Dec. 8 motion. The fact that the judge didn’t allow the full suit to proceed is no doubt creating some cautious optimism inside the Day One tower today.
Neither the company nor the FTC is commenting for now.
The complaint by the FTC and 17 state attorneys general, filed in September, accuses Amazon of leveraging its monopoly power using “anticompetitive and unfair strategies” that “stop rivals and sellers from lowering prices, degrade quality for shoppers, overcharge sellers, stifle innovation, and prevent rivals from fairly competing.”
Apart from the legal questions raised by the suit, one of the key factual sticking points is the FTC’s interpretation of an Amazon initiative called “Project Nessie,” which the agency described as a scheme to raise prices.
Amazon vehemently disputed this assertion, and called it a complete misinterpretation. Amazon said Nessie, which has since been discontinued, was simply meant to stop its automated price matching from creating “unusual outcomes where prices became so low that they were unsustainable.”
Whenever the order is unsealed, we’ll find out if the judge thinks the FTC presented sufficient facts to support its understanding of Project Nessie, and which parts of the case will (or will not) proceed to the next phase.
