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. Reuters