Amazon and Apple face a new collective action lawsuit in the UK's Competition Appeal Tribunal. The claim, filed on behalf of millions of UK consumers, seeks over £900 million in damages.
The lawsuit alleges the two tech giants made a secret deal in October 2018. This agreement unlawfully restricted independent retailers from selling Apple and Beats products on Amazon’s marketplace.
The claim states that by January 2019, almost all independent sellers of Apple products were removed from the platform. This removal allegedly led to fewer product discounts and forced consumers to overpay.
In exchange for limiting third-party sellers, Apple purportedly gave Amazon preferential wholesale prices on its products. This legal challenge follows similar competition investigations in other countries.