Amazon has deep bench of defense lawyers to fight US FTC lawsuit
Adds details about Amazon defense team in paragraphs 3 and 4 to Sept 26 story
By Andrew Goudsward and Mike Scarcella
WASHINGTON, Sept 27 (Reuters) -The U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s monopoly lawsuit against Amazon.com AMZN.O filed on Tuesday poses perhaps the biggest legal test so far for the platoons of lawyers who have defended the technology giant for years against allegations of antitrust and consumer protection violations.
The long-awaited FTC case against Amazon, joined by 17 state attorneys general, accuses the company of abusing itsdominance as an online retailer to thwart competitors and harm sellers and customers that rely on its platform. The company vowed to fight the lawsuit, saying its practices have spurred competition and innovation.
Kevin Hodges, a partner at law firm Williams & Connolly, was the first member of Amazon's defense team identified in a court document in the case. His partner Heidi Hubbard will lead the team, which also includes attorneys from law firm Covington & Burling, according to a person familiar with the hires.
Hubbard and Hodges, who is aformer managing partner of the Washington-headquartered firm, arealso representing Amazon in an ongoing antitrust lawsuit by California's attorney general accusing the company of forcing artificially high prices on consumers.
Williams & Connolly, known for its focus on litigation, in April successfully defeated a separate private lawsuit accusing the company of curbing competition for shipping and fulfillment services.
Hodges represented state attorneys general who joined the U.S. Justice Department's historic antitrust case against Microsoft MSFT.O in the 1990s and defended BP BP.L in lawsuits following the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, according to court records and his firm's website. He did not respond to a request for comment.
Williams & Connolly is also a lead defense firm in another major antitrust case targeting Big Tech. Partner John Schmidtlein heads a team comprised of several big law firms defending Alphabet's GOOGL.O Google in an ongoing landmark trial over the company’s alleged monopoly power in online search.
An Amazon spokesperson did not immediately respond to questions about its legal team. The company is likely to rely on multiple law firms to defend the FTC case.
Amazon General Counsel David Zapolsky, a 24-year veteran of the company's legal department, can turn to a stable of top outside law firms that already represent it.
Covington & Burling, another major Washington firm, worked with Williams & Connolly in 2021 in an unsuccessful attempt to force FTC Chair Lina Khan, a vocal critic of Amazon, to recuse from mattersinvolving the company. Thomas Barnett, co-chair of the firm’s antitrust practice and a former senior Justice Department official, was involved in the effort.
Covington is also representing Amazon in another pending lawsuit brought by the FTC accusing the company of enrolling customersinto its paid Amazon Prime service without their consent and making it difficult for them to cancel. The company has denied the allegations.
Covington advised Amazon in two consumer privacy settlements with the FTC in May related to the company’sAlexa voice assistant and Ring home security service.
A Covington spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment on whether the firm is defending Amazon in the FTC antitrust case.
Amazon has also turned to U.S. law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison to navigate government scrutiny. Paul Weiss secured the dismissal of an antitrust lawsuit brought by Washington, D.C.’s attorney general. An appeal remains pending.
The firm joined Covington in negotiating a $25 million Alexa child privacy settlement with the FTC.
Amazon faces landmark monopoly lawsuit by FTC nL1N3B21V3
BREAKINGVIEWS-Amazon has a poor man’s monopoly nL4N3B23UP
FTC's Khan, critic of Big Tech, takes on Amazon.com nL1N3B207C
Reporting by Andrew Goudsward and Mike Scarcella in Washington
Editing by David Bario, Matthew Lewis and Marguerita Choy
Actifs liés
Dernières actualités
Avertissement : Les entités de XM Group proposent à notre plateforme de trading en ligne un service d'exécution uniquement, autorisant une personne à consulter et/ou à utiliser le contenu disponible sur ou via le site internet, qui n'a pas pour but de modifier ou d'élargir cette situation. De tels accès et utilisation sont toujours soumis aux : (i) Conditions générales ; (ii) Avertissements sur les risques et (iii) Avertissement complet. Un tel contenu n'est par conséquent fourni que pour information générale. En particulier, sachez que les contenus de notre plateforme de trading en ligne ne sont ni une sollicitation ni une offre de participation à toute transaction sur les marchés financiers. Le trading sur les marchés financiers implique un niveau significatif de risques pour votre capital.
Tout le matériel publié dans notre Centre de trading en ligne est destiné à des fins de formation / d'information uniquement et ne contient pas – et ne doit pas être considéré comme contenant – des conseils et recommandations en matière de finance, de fiscalité des investissements ou de trading, ou un enregistrement de nos prix de trading ou une offre, une sollicitation, une transaction à propos de tout instrument financier ou bien des promotions financières non sollicitées à votre égard.
Tout contenu tiers, de même que le contenu préparé par XM, tels que les opinions, actualités, études, analyses, prix, autres informations ou liens vers des sites tiers contenus sur ce site internet sont fournis "tels quels", comme commentaires généraux sur le marché et ne constituent pas des conseils en investissement. Dans la mesure où tout contenu est considéré comme de la recherche en investissement, vous devez noter et accepter que le contenu n'a pas été conçu ni préparé conformément aux exigences légales visant à promouvoir l'indépendance de la recherche en investissement et, en tant que tel, il serait considéré comme une communication marketing selon les lois et réglementations applicables. Veuillez vous assurer que vous avez lu et compris notre Avis sur la recherche en investissement non indépendante et notre avertissement sur les risques concernant les informations susdites, qui peuvent consultés ici.
