Amazon Fails to Advance Defense to California’s Antitrust Suit

Amazon.com Inc. failed to get an early win in California’s antitrust case on whether its “featured offer” policy has procompetitive rather than anti-competitive effects.

There were too many disputed material facts on whether Amazon used the policy to coerce third-party sellers into offering their goods for lower prices than competitors in order to be given a more prominent place on the online retailer’s website, the California Superior Court, San Francisco County, said Wednesday.

Amazon didn’t definitively show it hadn’t entered into prohibited price agreements with sellers in return for making it easier for customers to find and buy their goods, ...