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A US federal court in New York also dismissed a lawsuit against eBay filed by the EPA and the justice department.
A US federal court in Seattle partially dismissed a lawsuit filed against the e-commerce giant Amazon by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), though the details of the dismissal remain unclear.
Yesterday (30 September), district judge John Chun issued a sealed ruling, partially granting a motion to dismiss, with the FTC free to pursue some claims, Reuters reports.
In the lawsuit filed last year, the FTC, 18 state attorneys general and Puerto Rico accused Amazon of using “anticompetitive and unfair strategies”, which the commission alleged allowed Amazon to maintain a monopoly, dominating other online retailers.
While Amazon called these “common retail practices”, telling the US court that the commission was unable to identify the harm caused to consumers.
The FTC lawsuit alleged that the e-commerce giant was using an algorithm that increased prices by more than $1bn. However, Amazon claimed that it stopped using the algorithm, called Project Nessie, in 2019. The commission also claimed that Amazon hampered competition by pushing sellers to use its advertising and fulfilment services.
However, Amazon rebutted, saying its price matching and Prime shipping services benefit consumers.
Neither the FTC nor Amazon provided Reuters with a comment on the case.
Lawsuit against eBay dismissed
Also yesterday, a US federal judge dismissed a Department of Justice (DoJ) lawsuit which accused eBay of unlawfully selling “hundreds of thousands of products” that violate environmental acts. The judge ruled that eBay cannot be held responsible for the actions of its platform users.
The lawsuit was filed by the US Environmental Protection Agency and the DoJ last September. The suit claimed that eBay sold 23,000 restricted or banned pesticides, 5,600 products containing toxic chemicals such as methylene chloride and more than 343,000 devices that allow vehicles to evade emissions controls. These devices can cause vehicles to emit significantly more pollution than vehicles with properly functioning emission controls.
In yesterday’s ruling, US district judge Orelia Merchant found in favour of eBay, citing Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, a federal law that protects online platforms from liability over user content.
Merchant added that eBay was not a “seller” and did not possess any of the products and therefore cannot be held liable for the actions of consumers.
In January, the online superstore cut 9pc of its workforce – about 1,000 people – giving the reason that its overall headcount and expenses have “outpaced the growth of our business”.
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