California Attorney General Rob Bonta Wednesday filed an antitrust lawsuit against ecommerce company Amazon, accusing the company of stifling competition and creating artificial pricing floors.

The 84-page complaint was filed in San Francisco Superior Court and argues that Amazon’s anticompetitive practices are in violation of California’s Unfair Competition Law and Cartwright Act.

The lawsuit mirrors a complaint filed in 2021 by the District of Columbia. The case was initially dismissed by a trial court judge, but an appeals process is now underway.

Attorney General Bonta stated:

Amazon coerces merchants into agreements that keep prices artificially high, knowing full well that they can’t afford to say no. With other e-commerce platforms unable to compete on price consumers turn to Amazon as a one-stop shop for all their purchases. This perpetuates Amazon’s market dominance, allowing the company to make increasingly untenable demands on its merchants and costing consumers more at checkout across California.

Amazon stands as the most dominant online retail store in the United States and reportedly controls around 38 percent of online sales in the US. Nationwide, the company has more than 160 million Prime members and around 25 million customers in California.

Amazon spokesman Alex Hauerk said Bonta “has it exactly backwards. Sellers set their own prices for the products they offer in our store.”