LONDON, Jan 14 (Reuters) - Apple ( AAPL ) and Amazon ( AMZN )

have successfully fought off a mass lawsuit in Britain

over alleged collusion between the tech giants to remove

resellers of new Apple ( AAPL ) products from Amazon's ( AMZN ) website, a

tribunal ruled on Tuesday.

The lawsuit was brought by consumer law academic Christine

Riefa on behalf of around 36 million British consumers who had

bought Apple ( AAPL ) or Beats products.

Riefa's lawyers alleged that Apple ( AAPL ) and Amazon ( AMZN ) reached an

agreement in 2018 to bar the vast majority of resellers of Apple ( AAPL )

and Beats-branded products from Amazon's ( AMZN ) marketplace in the

United Kingdom, reducing competition for those products.

Apple ( AAPL ) and Amazon ( AMZN ) said the case, valued at 494 million pounds

($602 million) plus interest, was without merit and asked the

Competition Appeal Tribunal to refuse to let it proceed.

The tribunal ruled that the case could not continue because

Riefa had not demonstrated "sufficient independence or

robustness" to represent the claimant class, in relation to

third-party funding for the litigation.

Riefa's lawyers did not immediately respond to a request for

comment, nor did spokespeople for Apple ( AAPL ) and Amazon ( AMZN ).

The Competition Appeal Tribunal's refusal to certify the

case, an early step in such litigation, is unusual as the bar

for certification is relatively low.

(Reporting by Sam Tobin;

Editing by Catarina Demony and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)