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In
its motion to dismiss, Amazon said the U.S. Federal Trade
Commission, in a lawsuit filed in September, confused "common
retail practices" with anticompetitive conduct and failed to
identify harm to consumers.
"Amazon promptly matches rivals' discounts, features
competitively priced deals rather than overpriced ones, and
ensures best-in class delivery for its Prime subscribers," the
company said in asking for the lawsuit to be "dismissed in its
entirety."
The FTC lawsuit was one of four that the Trump and Biden
administrations have filed since 2020 against the companies that
dominate the internet. The Biden team has primarily focused on
ordinary consumer items like housing, food and airline tickets.
The FTC lawsuit said Amazon, which has 1 billion items in its
online superstore, created a "secret algorithm" named Project
Nessie to identify products for which it can raise prices
without losing customers. The FTC said Amazon used Project
Nessie to extract more than $1 billion from Americans.
In its filing, Amazon said Nessie was discontinued in 2019 and
that the company matches other companies' lowest prices.
The FTC was also critical of Amazon's decision to require
sellers under the company's Prime feature to use its logistics
and delivery services even though many preferred to use a
cheaper service or one that would also serve customers on other
platforms.
Amazon.com said that using Amazon's fulfillment services was
voluntary, including for products sold under its Prime service.
Amazon's average fees for sellers using its fulfillment services
increased from 27% in 2014 to 39.5% in 2018, the FTC said.
Amazon also argued that it competed with other online
superstores like Walmart and Target, and a range of stores with
specialized markets such as Best Buy, Home Depot, Kroger,
Costco, Staples, Walgreens, Nike and Apple.
"The complaint's 'online superstore' market is implausible
because it suggests, for example, that consumers would not
consider buying a low-priced TV on Bestbuy.com only because Best
Buy does not also sell shoes," Amazon argued.
(Reporting by Diane Bartz; Editing by Richard Chang)
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