
Taiwan’s Fair Trade Commission recently slapped Apple with a $670,000 fine for interfering with mobile providers and handset retailers’ pricing. To be more specific the Cupertino California company was accused of violating the nation’s Fair Trade Act by advising mobile carriers on how much they should charge for iPhones. The commission feels that Apple has no rights to govern how carriers sell iPhones after having sold the carriers distribution rights.
A recent report by The Wall Street Journal indicated that the fine involved resale and distribution rights rather than just pricing, noting that the commission maintained that Taiwan’s three major carriers: Chunghwa Telecom, Far Eastone Telecommunication, and Taiwan Mobile “can distribute or resell iPhones at their complete discretion after paying Apple for those rights.” The decision applies only to iPhones and not to other devices such as the iPad or Macs. Mobile phones and carriers tend to be subject to unique regulations in most countries.
The report continued by citing an FTC statement that says the following:
Through the email correspondence between Apple and these three telecom companies we discovered the companies submit their pricing plans to Apple to be approved or confirmed before the products hit the market.
Source: The Wall Street Journal
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