Apple and Amazon are suspected of colluding to monopolize iPhone and iPad pricing, and a US judge rules that consumers can sue

CTOnews.com, June 10 (Xinhua) A federal judge in Seattle ruled on Thursday that Apple and Amazon must face a consumer antitrust lawsuit in US court accusing Apple of colluding with Amazon to artificially inflate the price of iPhone and iPad on the latter platform. The judge rejected requests from Apple and Amazon to dismiss the lawsuit on various legal grounds.

The lawsuit, filed in November, is one of a number of private and government lawsuits against Amazon's online pricing practices, and the judge's decision means the case will continue with evidence collection and other pretrial proceedings.

The plaintiffs are US residents who have been buying new iPhone and iPad on Amazon since January 2019. They claim that an agreement reached between Apple and Amazon that year limited the number of competitive sellers and violated antitrust provisions.

According to the lawsuit, there were about 600 third-party Apple dealers on Amazon in 2018. According to the lawsuit, Apple agreed to offer a discount to Amazon's products if it reduces the number of Apple resellers in its market.

Apple argues that its agreement with Amazon is to reduce the number of fake Apple products sold on e-commerce platforms. Apple's lawyers said in court documents that such agreements were "very common" and said that "the Supreme Court and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals often find such agreements to be competitive and legal."

A judge in Seattle said the "motive" for the agreement would be resolved in subsequent lawsuits.

Apple achieved sales of $94.8 billion in the second quarter, while Amazon recorded revenue of $127.4 billion (currently about 907.088 billion yuan) in its most recent quarterly results.

The plaintiff seeks three times the unstated damages and other remedies.