Amazon asks court to dismiss antitrust lawsuit over web traffic sharing

Amazon.com has asked a US court to dismiss a lawsuit claiming its cloud-computing unit AWS stamped out a startup that worked with “Fortnite” maker Epic Games and other customers to provide fast internet connections.

Amazon in a filing on Monday (Apr 8) in Seattle federal court said Subspace omega’s lawsuit should be dismissed for a number of reasons, including its failure to show AWS had any requirement to provide free network connections to it in locations around the globe.

Wyoming-based web traffic optimisation company Subspace, which shuttered in 2022, had “peered” with Amazon on its networks in an arrangement designed to benefit both companies, its lawsuit said. Subspace accused Amazon of violating antitrust law by ending the arrangement in a “calculated” move to drive the company out of business. It is seeking US$417 million in damages.

Subspace’s attorneys in a statement on Tuesday said Amazon “has a vested interest in forcing innovators out of business and limiting the free market to create an illegal moat around AWS’s monopoly profits.”

The statement said Amazon’s “abuse of its market position in this case is precisely the behaviour that the law prohibits.”

Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.

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Subspace’s lawsuit focuses partly on a claim that Amazon has “refused to deal” with it, abusing its market power in the cloud networking arena.

Amazon took over Subspace’s “network optimisation” services for Epic Games after ending the companies’ peering agreement. Epic’s multiplayer shooter Fortnite is among the most popular online games. Subspace said it could no longer perform under its contract for Epic, which it said was its largest client.

Amazon in Monday’s filing said “companies negotiate with one another every day,” and that “if not receiving the terms you want in a business deal were an antitrust violation, courts would be flooded with contrived antitrust claims.”

Amazon is facing other antitrust lawsuits from consumers and government agencies, including the Federal Trade Commission.

The federal agency has accused Amazon of unlawfully trying to bar sellers from offering better deals at other sites. Amazon has denied wrongdoing, and its bid to dismiss the lawsuit is pending. BLOOMBERG