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In reply to the discussion: Amazon Changed Search Algorithm in Ways That Boost Its Own Products [View all]unblock
(52,253 posts)but that doesn't excuse it or make it legal.
one of the problems in dealing with anti-competitive behavior is that much of corporate business involves, well, competition. trying to beat the other guy to market, trying to outsell them, trying to get better pricing, maybe even trying to trash their image a bit (our product is better than theirs!) that's all fine and dandy.
but certain behavior is not, even if the exact same competitive instincts would lead you to do it. in particular, it becomes a problem when you have an effective monopoly, which, arguably, amazon marketplace is (i'm not convinced of this, and this would be a key question in any case against them).
*if* amazon marketplace is deemed to be an effective monopoly, then amazon would be gaining an unfair (anti-competitive) advantage by leveraging its monopolistic power in its business as a marketplace to promote its business as a seller.
this is similar to the ways microsoft leveraged its effective monopoly in its operating systems business to promote its applications business, although that legal case didn't play out the way it should have.