Apple faces, once again, American justice and this time it has Amazon as a partner in the lawsuit.
The companies are defendants in an antitrust lawsuit that alleges the two technologies conspired to drive up the prices of the iPhone and iPad, eliminating competition.
Apple and Amazon will have reached an agreement to significantly reduce competition
It is not the first time that Apple faces justice. It’s also not the first time that Amazon has been embroiled in a lawsuit. But this time the two are sitting next to each other on the bench.
A class action lawsuit spearheaded by the law firm Hagens Berman, filed in federal court in Seattle, alleging that Apple and Amazon teamed up to raise the price of the iPhone and iPad, in clear violation of the country’s antitrust laws.
According to the lawsuit, Apple and Amazon reached an agreement in January 2019, under which Apple gave Amazon discounts of up to 10% on its products, in exchange for Amazon allowing only seven of the 600 resellers to remain in their company. platform.
This understanding will have led to Amazon being the dominant reseller of iPhones and iPads and, consequently, to a 10% increase in the prices of these Apple devices. On the other hand, the competition was also substantially reduced.
This lawsuit also refers to the fact that Amazon has admitted in the US Congress that it has established an agreement with Apple that only allows the presence of seven resellers of new Apple products on its platform.
The Reuters agency contacted Apple and Amazon for comment on the news, but both remained silent, without commenting.
This is not the first time that the law firm Hagens Berman has faced Apple in court. It is recalled that in 2013, the same firm filed a class action lawsuit against Apple for the price of electronic books, which it won, leading the Cupertino company to pay customers directly.
