FTC files antitrust suit against Amazon

As was long rumored, the Federal Trade Commission, along with 17 states, has sued Amazon for antitrust violations, 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…

In a statement about the suit, the FTC said it alleges that Amazon is “a monopolist that uses a set of interlocking anticompetitive and unfair strategies to illegally maintain its monopoly power… Amazon violates the law not because it is big, but because it engages in a course of exclusionary conduct that prevents current competitors from growing and new competitors from emerging. By stifling competition on price, product selection, quality, and by preventing its current or future rivals from attracting a critical mass of shoppers and sellers, Amazon ensures that no current or future rival can threaten its dominance.” …

In a letter to members, American Booksellers Association CEO Allison K. Hill called the suit “a significant victory in ABA’s advocacy efforts to fight Amazon’s stranglehold…”