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We had reported on this:
Temporary injunction against Amazon
On 26 June 2019, the Hildesheim Regional Court ruled in an interim injunction that Amazon must immediately lift the block on a seller account, restore deleted listings and immediately release any existing retained credit on the account:
Amazon thwarts enforcement of the court decision
Amazon then thwarted the enforcement of the injunction. Although they accepted the documents to be served, they did not document their receipt with a signature but only with a mere stamp. We reported here:
Amazon files an objection on almost 250 pages
In the meantime, not unexpectedly, Amazon has filed an appeal against the preliminary injunction – with almost 250 pages of attachments.
It is interesting to note that the submission contained therein was apparently made in the blue without knowing the application (Amazon behauptet in der Widerspruchsschrift, dass diese nicht vorliege) and largely deals with formal arguments from the defence (Zuständigkeit, anwendbares Recht, etc.). The allegedly failed service is also mentioned.
Amazon admits that the reason for the cancellation was only a pretext
In contrast, the comments on the specific reason for the cancellation are limited to a few lines, in which it is not even disputed that the reason previously given for blocking the applicant, namely the ‘manipulation of product reviews’, never actually existed.
Amazon thus admits in the course of the court proceedings that – always an open secret in retail circles – companies are apparently taken into a kind of ‘clan custody’ as soon as any internal personnel connections to an unpleasant other company become known. But that’s not all. As the present case shows, Amazon does not inform the retailers concerned of this, but apparently blocks them under a pretext.
This is an aspect that is not only of interest to the court in this case, but should also help other retailers in legal proceedings against Amazon’s measures. This particular type of ‘data processing’ could also be interesting from an antitrust law perspective with regard to the possible abuse of a dominant market position. Amazon has just reached an agreement with the German Federal Cartel Office to ‘behave’ better in future in order to avoid fines. We reported here:
UPDATE 27.8.2019
UPDATE 4.9.2019
UPDATE 9.9.2019
(Disclosure: Our law firm represents the applicant).
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