Amazon Suit Against Book Association Should Be Dismissed, Trade Group Says

A trade group for college bookstores that has challenged Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN)’s advertising claims for discounted textbooks asked a federal judge to dismiss the online retailer’s lawsuit against it.

The National Association of College Stores Inc. was sued by Amazon.com May 3 in a complaint seeking a court order declaring that its advertised 30 percent discounts on new textbooks and 90 percent discounts on used books aren’t false or misleading.

In March the Oberlin, Ohio-based group asked the Better Business Bureau’s national advertising division to review the ads, which it says are deceptive and haven’t been substantiated. Amazon.com hasn’t been harmed by the association or its request for a review, so the complaint should be thrown out, the group said in a May 27 court filing in federal court in Seattle.

The lawsuit appears to have been filed to thwart the college store group’s effort to have the Amazon.com ads reviewed by the bureau, the filing says. The complaint was closed because the bureau doesn’t accept cases that are the subject of lawsuits, the filing says.

A voice-mail message left at Seattle-based Amazon.com’s media office wasn’t immediately returned.

The case is Amazon.com v. National Association of College Stores Inc., 11-754, U.S. District Court, Western District of Washington (Seattle).

To contact the reporter on this story: Karen Gullo in San Francisco federal courtt .

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Hytha at mhytha@bloomberg.net.