Legal

The House Judiciary Committee’s rambling inquiry into Amazon’s business practices may have flushed out a tattle-tale merchant of scale articulating allegations of a valid antitrust accusation against the company. Or at least that is Bloomberg’s read of the 62-document: “It accuses Amazon of ‘tying’ its marketplace and logistics services together, an antitrust violation in which a company uses dominance in one market to give itself an advantage in another market where it’s less established.” Importantly, the merchant alleges that Amazon’s own fulfillment services are more expensive than competitors’ — and slower — which forces sellers to raise prices, harming consumers. […]

Stephen Elliott’s lawsuit against Media Men list creator Moira Donegan appears to be on life support, after Magistrate Judge Sanket Bulsara denied his request to order defendant Moira Donegan to unmask the Jane Does who Elliott claims defamed him — info she has already said she doesn’t have. Judge Bulsara said that there was no cause, given that there was already a fully briefed motion, as well as an amended complaint, ready for Judge Lashann DeArcy Hall to rule on. Even if Donegan was served discovery, Judge Bulsara said, there was little reason to think she would produce the same […]

Attorneys in Parneros v. Barnes & Noble sat before Judge John Koeltl as the business day closed November 4 to discuss Barnes & Noble’s intent to move for summary judgement on two of its former ceo’s three claims — defamation and breach of covenant of good faith and fair dealing. Judge Koeltl called it “a risky notion” more than once, noting that the mere fact of the timing of his termination — 2 weeks before contractual benefits were due to accrue — gives credibility to the fair dealing claim, whatever board members might have said so far in discovery. Koeltl […]