Britain’s Competition Appeal Tribunal allowed part of a consumer lawsuit against Apple and Amazon to proceed over claims they restricted competition in the sale of Apple products on Amazon’s UK marketplace. The legal action alleges that a 2018 agreement between the two companies limited which third-party sellers could operate on Amazon’s UK website, artificially driving up prices for consumers.
Tribunal Approves Marketplace Claims While Rejecting Broader Allegations
The three-judge panel ruled that allegations concerning Apple products purchased specifically through Amazon’s marketplace are plausible, credible, and grounded in the facts. According to claimant estimates cited by the tribunal, this surviving portion of the lawsuit carries a potential value between £289 million and £306 million, inclusive of interest.
Judge Kelyn Bacon delivered the ruling, noting that a realistic basis exists for arguing that reseller restrictions directly inflated prices for online shoppers. However, the tribunal dismissed a broader segment of the lawsuit that sought to cover products purchased directly from Apple’s own retail stores and other high street retailers. The court rejected those wider claims as resting on a complex and speculative theory of harm, pointing to an insufficient evidentiary foundation to prove that the alleged marketplace restrictions impacted pricing outside of Amazon’s platform.
Litigation Resurgence Following Previous Dismissal
The current legal challenge represents a refiled version of an earlier attempt that faced procedural setbacks. Last year, the tribunal refused to certify a largely similar lawsuit brought forward by consumer law academic Christine Riefa. That initial effort stalled due to judicial concerns regarding the proposed class representative and associated litigation funding arrangements.
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