UK Lawsuit: £2.5B Claim Against Amazon for Anti-Competitive Practices

In a significant legal initiative against Amazon, a UK opt-out competition damages claim has been initiated, potentially valued at over £2.5 billion. This action represents third-party sellers based in the UK who claim they have been negatively affected by Amazon's business tactics.

Leading the charge in this considerable lawsuit is Andreas Stephan, a prominent competition law scholar and the Head of the University of East Anglia Law School. He is supported by Geradin Partners, distinguished legal professionals from Blackstone Chambers and Fountain Court, along with economic analysts from Frontier Economics.

The lawsuit focuses on several alleged anti-competitive strategies used by Amazon. According to the legal team, these include efforts to tether sellers to its e-commerce platform, suppress the growth of rivals, and exploit dependent sellers, thus obstructing a free and competitive online market.

Damien Geradin, the Founding Partner at Geradin Partners, criticized Amazon's market dominance, indicating that it has significantly disadvantaged third-party sellers who are deprived of the benefits of competitive online commerce. The claim aims to rectify these issues by enabling sellers to pursue compensation for the alleged unfair practices they have encountered.

This case is expected to be lodged soon in the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal, marking a continuation of the global legal scrutiny facing Amazon. See article from Litigation Finance Insider here