Amazon scored a major victory over eBay in a lawsuit that accused Amazon of seller poaching. In 2018 and 2019, eBay filed two separate lawsuits against Amazon over an alleged “scheme” to secretly steal its biggest sellers.

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• Both lawsuits accused Amazon sales reps of signing up for eBay accounts under false pretenses and then using the internal messaging system to lure eBay merchants to Amazon's platform.
• Now, newly released court documents show eBay was unsuccessful in convincing an arbitration panel that Amazon poached its employees.
• In both lawsuits, the panel agreed that a breach of eBay's user contract did occur. But it didn't agree that eBay had experienced harm or “irreparable injury” as a result.
• The panel ruling still requires confirmation by the courts.

Amazon Alabama warehouse workers filed a notice to hold a unionization vote, setting up a potentially high-profile labor dispute between the e-commerce giant and the employees. It's the first step toward holding an election to legally form a bargaining unit at the Bessemer, Ala. warehouse, which would reportedly be the first U.S.-based union of Amazon workers.

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• All of Amazon's U.S. operations are union-free, though some of its European employees bargain collectively. Part of the reason is high turnover and use of temps, as well as Amazon's unwelcome stance towards unionization and its efforts to prevent it.
• In a petition, the group told the National Labor Relations Board that they're seeking 1,500 full and part-time workers to be represented by the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union. The board will decide if an election is allowed.
• While an Amazon spokeswoman said workers have the right to join unions, the company believes it already offers benefits, including $15 hourly pay, that union organizers said they want.
• “We don’t believe this group represents the majority of our employees’ views,” Amazon spokesperson Lisa Levandowski said.
• On Monday, Sen. Bernie Sanders tweeted that he stands by the Alabama workers. Jeff Bezos, the world's wealthiest person, "must not interfere in this election," he argued.

How Jeff Bezos makes decisions

In the new book "Invent and Wander: The Collected Writings of Jeff Bezos," the Amazon CEO describes his average day:

• Bezos said he gets a full eight hours of sleep every night before allowing for "puttering" in the morning, which includes making coffee, having breakfast with his kids, and reading the paper.
• By 10 a.m., the CEO says he begins engaging in what he calls his more "high IQ" daily meetings, which he tries to hold all before lunch.
• During the day, Bezos says he makes only three key decisions daily, focusing on "high quality" issues that are at least several years out...

I disagree and commit all the time. I'll debate something for an hour or a day or a week. And I'll say: 'You know what? I really disagree with this, but you have more ground truth than I do. We're going to do it your way.' - Bezos

Some Amazon workers are upset that they received $10-$25 turkey vouchers while new hires have been offered bonuses of up to $3,000. The company started offering the bonuses several weeks ago as a way to keep its ranks high during the holiday shopping season.

• Social media posts showed some longtime workers lamenting their Butterball-branded vouchers when compared to the bonuses, and Jeff Bezos' immense wealth.
• “If one worker gets a turkey and another worker gets $3,000, it’s the ultimate insult,” said compensation expert Fred Whittlesey, a former Amazon employee.
• The amount of the bonuses varies by location: $1,500 in much of the country; $2,000 in Maryland and Massachusetts; $3,000 in parts of California.
• Experts speculate that the company could be facing a worker shortage as people are concerned about COVID-19 risk. Amazon has hired at least 250,000 workers this year and offered perks, such as $2 hourly pay raises, to keep operations running smoothly.
• It also plans to spend an overall $10B or more on COVID prevention efforts this year at warehouses.

Amazon has partnered with the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center, a U.S. government watchdog group, to inspect counterfeit products. The company wants to crack down on counterfeits, which proliferate on Amazon's platform given its high percentage of third-party merchants.

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• The Coordination Center, a task force led by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, will work with Amazon to analyze various data and do targeted inspections at U.S. ports of entry.
• Amazon said the actions should help prevent more counterfeit products from entering the U.S. supply chain.
• The company has taken different actions to prevent counterfeits, including going after certain sellers in court, blocking millions of listings and accounts, and forming a Counterfeit Crimes Unit earlier this year.
• An Amazon spokesperson said 99.9% of products that customers view do not have a valid counterfeit complaint against them.

Amazon renewed the epic sci-fi series "The Expanse" for a sixth and final season. The fifth season will hit Prime Video on December 16.

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• The first three seasons of "The Expanse" aired on Syfy before it was canceled, then picked up for additional seasons by Amazon.
• Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is an avowed fan of the novels by James S. A. Corey on which the series is based.
• Canadian actor Cas Anvar, who played Alex Kamal on the series, will not return for the final episodes following multiple allegations of sexual misconduct.
• Related: Amazon's streaming service IMDb TV has renewed spy thriller series "Alex Rider" for a second season. Season one debuted on Nov. 13 in the U.S.

A version of this story first appeared in yesterday's Inside Streaming. Read the full issue here.

QUICK HITS: 

• An algorithm that analyzes Twitter comments and invests in crypto is beating the S&P. *
• Leaked documents viewed by Vice detail how Amazon's Global Security Operations Center tracks organizations that are a potential threat to the company, including Extinction Rebellion, Greenpeace, and Greta Thunberg's Fridays for Future.
• New satellite images show the growing footprint of warehouses on U.S. soil as online shopping becomes more mainstream.
• Jeff Bezos was among the investors in a $30M venture-capital funding round for African finTech firm Chipper Cash.
• In his new book “Post Corona: From Crisis to Opportunity," serial entrepreneur Scott Galloway predicts that Amazon will begin selling health insurance after its recent move into the pharmacy business.
• The stock rally seen so far in 2020 has been fueled by big tech companies – chiefly Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, and Alphabet – but there are signs that investors are increasingly hopeful about the performance of other economic sectors.
• Amazon has reinstated the latest installment of "Unreported Truths about COVID-19 and Lockdowns," by author Alex Berenson, on its platform.
• Walmart announced it has created a new program to fulfill e-commerce orders directly from their stores as opposed to an e-commerce fulfillment center.
• Amazon’s Echo Buds now have new fitness tracking features.

*This is a sponsored post.