A federal judge is allowing a Bangor publisher and bookseller to proceed with its antitrust lawsuit against Amazon.

In a court order filed Wednesday, Chief U.S. District Court Judge John Woodcock Jr. denied Amazon's motion to dismiss the lawsuit filed against it by BookLocker, a Bangor-based print-on-demand publisher and bookseller. In May 2008, BookLocker filed the complaint against Amazon, alleging the online retailer is violating a federal antitrust law by forcing print-on-demand publishers to use its BookSurge subsidiary to print books if they want to sell them directly on Amazon. BookLocker alleges that using BookSurge would force it to take a loss on almost every book sold, according to the court documents.

In the ruling, Judge Woodcock wrote that the evidence in the case "[suffices] to permit the plausible inference that Amazon is unlawfully forcing purchase of its POD [print on demand] service."

View the court's decision >>