Postal Regulatory Commission Rules in Favor of GameFly in USPS Spat

Video game rental-by-mail firm GameFly has won a legal battle against the United States Postal Service. Filed in April of last year with the Postal Regulatory Commission, GameFly alleged that the USPS had discriminated against the company while giving preferential treatment to similar businesses such as Netflix and Blockbuster.

After a year of legal wrangling, court proceedings and a flurry of motions, the Postal Regulatory Commission has ruled in favor of GameFly and has ordered the USPS to remedy the situation in short order. The Postal Regulatory Commission is an independent federal agency that provides regulatory oversight over the U.S. Postal Service. It has the power to force the Postal Service into compliance on various complaints.

Today it issued Order No. 718, concluding that the Postal Service has unlawfully discriminated against GameFly. The Commission directed the Postal Service to modify its Mail Classification Schedule for round-trip DVD mail. The Postal Service has been given 60 days to implement the remedy. This is the first case decided under the Commission’s new complaint process. The full decision can be found at www.prc.gov (PDF).