Court Rules Against Netflix in Netflix-GameFly Postal Dispute

The U.S. Court of Appeals found that Netflix does indeed get preferential treatment by the USPS.

GameFly and Netflix have been butting legal heads over a U.S. Postal Service dispute for the past few years. GameFly, a gaming rental service that functions akin to Netflix, accused the video streaming and rental company of having the unfair advantage of preferential treatment by the USPS.

In their most recent clash, the U.S. Court of Appeals has ruled in favor of GameFly, finding that USPS did give preferential treatment to Netflix in its handling of DVDs. It has left it up to the Postal Regulatory Commission to solve the dispute and come up with a solution.

Despite Netflix and GameFly offering similar services, Netflix DVDs are sorted into separate compartments. "Rather obviously, this is not without cost to the postal service. Nonetheless, the service provides it to Netflix free of charge," wrote presiding Judge David Sentelle.

Hopefully, the Postal Regulatory Commission sets things straight with the USPS this time around. Back in April of 2011, the Postal Regulatory Commission had ruled in favor of GameFly over the same dispute. Unfortunately, PRC's ruling last time did little to alter the situation, hence why GameFly went to seek out the U.S. Court of Appeals. 

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