Amazon fined in legal row with Toys R Us
$18,000 penalty for breaching order
A US judge has fined Amazon for breaching her order in the online retail giant’s ongoing legal row with Toys R Us.
Superior Court judge Margaret McVeigh imposed the $18,000 after ruling that Amazon had violated her order requiring Amazon to honour its exclusivity agreement with Toys R Us.
The toy retailer said Amazon has listed 46 products on its website that should only be sold through its deal wth Toys R Us.
The fine come two weeks before the main dispute between the two retailers is due to reach court. Toys R Us is claiming that Amazon violated the partnership agreement between the two by allowing its online sellers – a network of smaller retailers – to offer goods that should only have been sold by Amazon through its deal with Toys R Us.
In response, Amazon is seeking to dissolve the partnership, claiming among other things that Toys R Us has failed to keep items in stock. A hearing is due to start on March 16 unless an agreement is reached through mediation.
Meanwhile, Toys R Us is reported to have narrowed the field of potential buyers for its toy stores down to four groups. The company is seeking to seperate its more successful Babies R Us business from the underperforming toy stores.
