Taiwan’s Fair Trade Commission has penalized Apple Asia $666,220 for reducing the costs local telecom carriers could charge for iPhone agreements, in what they stated was an unjust reduction of competition. According to reviews by Taiwanese news agency Taipei Times, the antitrust group stated that Apple had been demanding providers to obtain its permission before they set contract costs on iPhones – a exercise which is in breach of Taiwan’s free trade rules.
In a statement by Fair Trade Commission Vice Chairman Sun Lih-chyun, the organization said that:-
“Apple violated Article 18 of the Fair Trade Act, which regulates resale prices between enterprises and their retail counterparts.”
Sun said:-
“If Apple organization Japan employed regional organizations to provide services and sell iPhones, the organization can set costs for them.”
In another statement Sun said:-
“However, based on the agreements between Apple organization and their device suppliers, the organization actually marketed its iPhones to regional organizations, therefore regional organizations should have the right to set costs themselves.”
According to Sun, Apple organization must stop the exercise immediately lest they face further charges from the government, which may total up to $1.7 thousand.
This information comes among many legalities for Apple organization, such as long-running lawsuits in the United States such as competing phone maker Samsung, in which Apple recently asked for that Samsung pay their attorney’s fees. The problems haven’t seemed to slow them, however, as they revealed 33.8 million iPhones marketed in Q4 2013.
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