On Friday, the Supreme Court gave Amazon a little reprieve by setting the final hearing on a case that the e-commerce behemoth had submitted for December. Due to the company’s 2019 agreement with Future Coupons, the Competition Commission of India fined it 202 crore. According to the top court, the ‘protection’ offered to the US-based company would last up to the following hearing.
During the first week of December 2023, the issue will be scheduled for a non-miscellaneous day, according to a bench comprising Justices AS Bopanna and MM Sundresh. The temporary order would continue to be in effect throughout this period. Amazon received a stay from the highest court in May of this year, which was then extended in July.
The Future Group-Amazon deal had been put on hold in 2021, and CCI had fined the company 202 crore for failing to disclose the shareholder agreement involving Future Retail. In an effort to get into the Indian retail market, the Competition Commission claims that Amazon pretended to be interested in Future Coupons. The e-commerce behemoth allegedly failed to recognize and inform Future Retail of any strategic interest at the time.
According to reports, the Federal Trade Commission will lodge an antitrust lawsuit in federal court against Amazon’s substantial online retail operations as early as Tuesday. The main points of the case are likely to be Amazon’s pricing practices, Prime, and claims that the corporation improperly links merchant access to its marketplace to usage of its logistics service. These issues are currently the center of a lawsuit brought by the attorney general of California.
After years of criticism that the giant computer corporations exploited their supremacy, the action was anticipated. The FTC has sent a draft complaint to the states in an effort to convince them to sign on, according to a Reuters story quoting sources. This action often signifies that a lawsuit is about to be launched.
