![U.S. District Judge John Chun in Seattle on Tuesday said he would hear the FTC’s case against Amazon in a non-jury trial next year [File]](https://th-i.thgim.com/public/incoming/oyzdw3/article68283776.ece/alternates/LANDSCAPE_1200/2024-04-25T164024Z_707935721_RC29WT90S1TG_RTRMADP_3_AMAZON-COM-SPORTS-NHL.JPG "U.S. District Judge John Chun in Seattle on Tuesday said he would hear the FTC’s case against Amazon in a non-jury trial next year [File]")
U.S. District Judge John Chun in Seattle on Tuesday said he would hear the FTC’s case against Amazon in a non-jury trial next year [File]
| Photo Credit: REUTERS
A judge has set a June 2025 trial in the U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s case accusing Amazon.com of deceptively enrolling millions of online shoppers into the e-commerce giant’s Prime service without their consent and making it hard for them to leave.
In a brief order, U.S. District Judge John Chun in Seattle on Tuesday said he would hear the FTC’s case against Amazon in a non-jury trial next year. Amazon had pushed for an earlier trial date.
The FTC last year accused Amazon of using “manipulative, coercive or deceptive user-interface designs known as ‘dark patterns’ to trick consumers into enrolling in automatically renewing Prime subscriptions.”
Amazon declined to comment, and the FTC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Amazon has denied any wrongdoing in the lawsuit, which also names three of its senior executives as defendants.
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“The three individual defendants, whose lives have been upended by the FTC’s baseless and unjust allegations, are particularly eager to see those allegations fail, and any delay further prejudices them,” Amazon said in a filing last month opposing the FTC’s request to push the trial back to July 2025.
The FTC had asked Chun for a July 2025 trial, giving the agency more time to acquire and review consumer data for millions of Prime members. Amazon called the data demand “overbroad.”
Chun last month denied Amazon’s effort to dismiss the FTC’s lawsuit.
The lawsuit is among several federal and state government actions challenging Amazon’s business practices. The FTC last year accused Amazon in an antitrust lawsuit of abusing its market power, in part by curbing the ability of its sellers to offer better prices on other platforms.
Amazon has denied the claims, which are also pending before Chun. The judge has set an October 2026 trial in that case.
The case is Federal Trade Commission v. Amazon.com, U.S. District Court, Western District of Washington, No. 2:23-cv-00932-JHC.
For FTC: Evan Mendelson, Jonathan Cohen, Olivia Jerjian and Thomas Nardini of FTC
For Amazon: Kenneth Payson of Davis Wright Tremaine; John Hueston of Hueston Hennigan; and Stephen Anthony of Covington & Burling
