Amazon in Lina Khan's Crosshairs: The FTC's Next Big Move

by Lina Khan (Finally) Sues AmazonOctober 10th, 2023

Too Long; Didn't Read

Explore the FTC's case against Amazon, accusing the tech giant of monopolistic behavior. Dive into a detailed table of contents, revealing Amazon's market power, anti-competitive strategies, and alleged legal violations. This is part of HackerNoon's Legal PDF Series, providing insights into significant public domain court filings.

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FTC v. Amazon Court Filing, retrieved on Sep 26, 2023, is part of HackerNoon’s Legal PDF Series. You can jump to any part in this filing here. This is the table of links with all parts.

Case Number: 2:23-cv-01495

Plaintiff: Federal Trade Commission

Defendant: Amazon

Filing Date: Sep 26, 2023

Location: United States District Court Western District of Washington

TABLE OF CONTENT

I. NATURE OF THE CASE

II. JURISDICTION AND VENUE

III. THE PARTIES

IV. AMAZON’S OPERATIONS

A. Amazon's First-Party Retail And Third-Party Marketplace Business Units

B. Amazon's Online Superstore

C. Amazon's Advertising Services

D. Amazon Prime

E. Fulfillment By Amazon

V. AMAZON POSSESSES MONOPOLY POWER IN TWO RELEVANT MARKETS

A. Amazon Has Durable Monopoly Power In The Online Superstore Market

1. The U.S. online superstore market is a relevant market

a. Online superstores offer shoppers a unique set of features

b. Online superstores are not reasonably interchangeable with brick-and-mortar stores

c. Online superstores are not reasonably interchangeable with other online stores that lack breadth and depth of product selection

d. The online perishable grocery category is properly excluded from the online superstore market

e. The relevant geographic market is the United States

2. Amazon has a dominant share of the online superstore market

3. Amazon's dominant position in the online superstore market is protected by significant barriers to entry

B. Amazon Has Durable Monopoly Power In The Online Marketplace Services Market

1. Online marketplace services is a relevant market

a. Online marketplace services offer sellers a unique set of features

b. Online marketplace services are not reasonably interchangeable with selling as a vendor

c. Online marketplace services are not reasonably interchangeable with services sold by SaaS providers

d. Online marketplace services are not reasonably interchangeable with services that primarily provide access to non-U.S. shoppers

e. The relevant geographic market for online marketplace services for sales to U.S. shoppers is worldwide

2. Amazon has a dominant share of the online marketplace services market

3. Amazon’s dominant position in the online marketplace services market is protected by significant barriers to entry

C. Feedback Loops Between The Relevant Markets Further Amplify The Cumulative Impact Of Scale And Related Network Effect

D. Direct Evidence Further Demonstrates Amazon's Monopoly Power

1. Amazon has (redacted)

2. Amazon degrades its search quality by stacking the deck against third-party competitors of Amazon's private label products

3. Amazon increases prices to sellers without losing meaningful business

VI. AMAZON IS ENGAGED IN A COURSE OF CONDUCT THAT ILLEGALLY MAINTAINS ITS MONOPOLIES IN BOTH RELEVANT MARKETS

A. Amazon Maintains Its Monopolies In Both Relevant Markets Through Exclusionary Anti-Discounting Conduct That Stifles Price Competition

1. Amazon engages in price surveillance to support its anti-discounting scheme

2. Amazon maintains its monopolies by punishing third-party sellers when Amazon detects lower prices on other online stores

a. Amazon penalizes sellers when Amazon finds lower prices off Amazon

b. Amazon continues to contractually prohibit its most important sellers from discounting elsewhere

c. Amazon’s anti-discounting strategy prevents rivals and sellers from offering lower prices and deprives rivals of scale necessary to compete

3. Amazon maintains its monopolies by suppressing price competition with its first-party anti-discounting algorithm

a. Amazon’s first-party anti-discounting algorithm is designed to discipline rivals from lowering their prices

b. Amazon’s first-party anti-discounting algorithm has stopped other online stores from competing through offering lower prices

4. Amazon combines its various anti-discounting programs to maximize their collective anticompetitive effect

B. Amazon Maintains Its Monopolies In Both Relevant Markets By Coercing Sellers To Use Amazon’s Fulfillment Service

1. Sellers who forgo Prime eligibility effectively disappear from Amazon’s storefront

2. Amazon requires sellers to use FBA to obtain Prime eligibility

3. By forcing sellers to use FBA for their products to be Prime eligible, Amazon raises sellers’ costs of selling on multiple marketplaces, stifling competition in both relevant markets

a. Amazon raises sellers’ costs by forcing them to split their inventory to sell across multiple sales channels

b. Forcing sellers to use FBA to obtain Prime eligibility impedes competition and the growth of independent fulfillment providers

c. Amazon unlawfully maintains its monopolies by conditioning Prime eligibility on sellers’ use of FBA

4. Amazon’s use of Seller Fulfilled Prime underscores the harms to competition caused by Amazon’s conditioning Prime eligibility on use of FBA

C. Amazon’s Anticompetitive Tactics Work Together To Amplify Their Overall Exclusionary Effect

VII. AMAZON (redacted)

A. Project Nessie (redacted)

B. Amazon Has (redacted Project Nessie (redacted)

VIII. AMAZON’S CONDUCT HARMS COMPETITION AND CONSUMERS

IX. VIOLATIONS ALLEGED

COUNT I: MONOPOLY MAINTENANCE OF THE ONLINE SUPERSTORE MARKET (15 U.S.C. § 45(a))

COUNT II: MONOPOLY MAINTENANCE OF THE ONLINE MARKETPLACE SERVICES MARKET (15 U.S.C. § 45(a))

COUNT III: UNFAIR METHOD OF COMPETITION (15 U.S.C. § 45(a))

COUNT IV: UNFAIR METHOD OF COMPETITION (15 U.S.C. § 45(a))

COUNT V: MONOPOLY MAINTENANCE OF THE ONLINE SUPERSTORE MARKET (15 U.S.C. § 2)

COUNT VI: MONOPOLY MAINTENANCE OF THE ONLINE MARKETPLACE SERVICES MARKET (15 U.S.C. § 2)

COUNT VII: VIOLATIONS OF CONNECTICUT STATE LAW

COUNT VIII: VIOLATIONS OF MAINE STATE LAW

COUNT IX: VIOLATIONS OF MARYLAND STATE LAW

COUNT X: VIOLATIONS OF MICHIGAN STATE LAW

COUNT XI: VIOLATIONS OF THE NEVADA UNFAIR TRADE PRACTICES ACT

COUNT XII: VIOLATION OF THE NEW JERSEY ANTITRUST ACT (MONOPOLY MAINTENANCE)

COUNT XIII: VIOLATION OF THE NEW JERSEY CONSUMER FRAUD ACT (“CFA”) (COMMERCIAL PRACTICES IN VIOLATION OF STATE AND FEDERAL LAW)

COUNT XIV:VIOLATION OF THE NEW JERSEY CFA BY DEFENDANT (UNCONSCIONABLE COMMERCIAL PRACTICES BY DEFENDANT)

COUNT XV: VIOLATIONS OF NEW YORK STATE LAW

COUNT XVI: VIOLATIONS OF OKLAHOMA STATE LAW

COUNT XVII: VIOLATIONS OF OREGON STATE LAW

COUNT XVIII: VIOLATIONS OF PENNSYLVANIA STATE LAW

A. Pennsylvania’s Unfair Trade Practices And Consumer Protection Law

1. Unfair methods of competition and unfair acts or practices under PUTPCPL

2. Deceptive acts or practices under PUTPCPL

B. Common Law Doctrine Against Monopolization

COUNT XIX: VIOLATIONS OF RHODE ISLAND LAW

COUNT XX: VIOLATIONS OF WISCONSIN STATE LAW

X. REQUEST FOR RELIEF

About HackerNoon Legal PDF Series: We bring you the most important technical and insightful public domain court case filings.

This court case 2:23-cv-01495 retrieved on October 2, 2023, from ftc.gov is part of the public domain. The court-created documents are works of the federal government, and under copyright law, are automatically placed in the public domain and may be shared without legal restriction.

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Lina Khan (Finally) Sues Amazon@linakhantakesamazon

The youngest person to ever chair the FTC, Lina Khan rose to prominence from her 2017 book, "Amazon's Antitrust Paradox"

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tech-companies #ftc-v.-amazon #antitrust #ftc #amazon #lina-khan #amazon-monopoly #lina-khan-ftc #amazon-antitrust-lawsuit

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Amazon in Lina Khan's Crosshairs: The FTC's Next Big Move

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