Apple, Amazon Must Face Antitrust Lawsuit for Inflating iPhones, iPads Price; Rules US Court

[Pelican Press 0]

Apple,

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

Must Face Antitrust Lawsuit for Inflating iPhones, iPads Price; Rules US Court

Apple and

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

.com must face a consumer antitrust lawsuit in US court accusing them of conspiring to artificially inflate the price of iPhones and iPads sold on

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

’s platform, a federal judge in Seattle ruled on Thursday.

In his ruling, US District Judge John Coughenour rejected bids from Apple and

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

to dismiss the prospective class action on various legal grounds.

Coughenour said the “validity” of the relevant market, a central issue in antitrust litigation, was a question for a jury.

The lawsuit, filed in November, is among several private and government actions challenging

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

’s online price practices. Coughenour’s ruling means the case will move forward to evidence-gathering and other pretrial proceedings.

Lawyers for Apple and

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

and representatives for the companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Friday.

Steve Berman, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, called the court’s ruling “a major win for consumers of Apple phones and iPads.”

The plaintiffs are US residents who bought new iPhones and iPads on

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

beginning in January 2019. They contend an agreement between Apple and

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

that went into effect that year restricted the number of competitive resellers in violation of antitrust provisions.

In 2018, according to the lawsuit, there were some 600 third-party Apple resellers on

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

. Apple agreed to give

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

a discount on its products if

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

reduced the number of Apple resellers from its marketplace, the lawsuit alleged.

Apple has argued that its agreement with

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

limited the number of authorized resellers to help minimize counterfeit Apple goods being sold on the e-commerce platform.

In a court filing, Apple’s attorneys called the agreement “commonplace” and said the “Supreme Court and Ninth Circuit have routinely recognized that such agreements are procompetitive and lawful.”

The judge in Seattle said “countervailing” motivations for the agreement between Apple and

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

would be addressed later in the litigation.

Apple recorded $94.8 billion (nearly Rs. 7,81,500 crore) in sales in the second quarter, and

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

reported $127.4 billion (nearly Rs. 10,508,00 crore) in its most recent quarterly earnings report.

The complaint seeks unspecified triple damages and other relief.

© Thomson Reuters 2023 

---

Apple’s annual developer conference is just around the corner. From the company’s first mixed reality headset to new software updates, we discuss all the things we’re looking forward to seeing at WWDC 2023 on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

,

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

,

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

,

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

,

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

,

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

and wherever you get your podcasts.

Affiliate links may be automatically generated – see our ethics statement for details.

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

apple

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

us lawsuit inflating iphone ipad price

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

,apple,us court
#Apple #

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

#Face #Antitrust #Lawsuit #Inflating #iPhones #iPads #Price #Rules #Court

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up