UK Court Revives Apple and Amazon Antitrust Suit Over Third-Party Sales Restrictions

The UK Competition Appeal Tribunal has decided to resume the trial of an antitrust class action lawsuit against Apple and Amazon, bringing the legal dispute over the two companies' commercial cooperation agreement back into the public eye. The litigation, originally filed in 2023, centers on a partnership agreement reached between the two tech giants in 2018. The plaintiffs argue that this agreement restricted the eligibility of third-party retailers to sell Apple and Beats brand products on the Amazon platform, thereby weakening market competition and causing consumers to pay higher prices. As a result, the plaintiffs have accused both companies of engaging in anti-competitive market behavior. This is not the first time Apple and Amazon have faced regulatory and legal scrutiny over this specific agreement, as similar investigations or lawsuits have previously been conducted in Germany, the United States, Spain, and Italy. The case was initially led by consumer law scholar Christine Riefa, but the tribunal previously refused to approve the case for formal class action proceedings, citing concerns that Riefa had not sufficiently demonstrated the ability to independently protect the interests of class members and expressing worries about the case's funding arrangements.

A point of contention involved the revenue arrangement between the litigation funder Asertis and the case, where Asertis could potentially receive priority in compensation payments upon a win, leaving consumers with no compensation. The tribunal believed this arrangement could harm the interests of class action participants. After a new class action representative was appointed and a new application was submitted, the tribunal reviewed the case and decided to allow it to proceed again. However, the court only approved part of the claims to enter the trial phase. Future litigation will primarily focus on Apple products sold through the Amazon platform, excluding claims related to consumers purchasing products directly from Apple's official channels. The tribunal stated that the allegations regarding Apple's own sales channels were based on a complex and speculative theory of harm, lacking sufficient basis to continue as the core of the lawsuit at this stage.

Both Apple and Amazon have explicitly opposed the related accusations. Apple maintains that the purpose of the cooperation agreement with Amazon was to combat counterfeit products and provide consumers with a safer and more reliable shopping environment, rather than to restrict market competition. With the UK court restarting the case trial, this significant antitrust dispute involving two global tech giants is expected to continue to attract widespread attention from regulators, the legal community, and consumer groups in the coming years. cnBeta reported the story.