Apple and Amazon's $170M Antitrust Fine Overturned by Italian Court

by

An administrative court in Italy today scrapped a €173.3 million ($170.4 million) fine leveled at Apple and Amazon last year for alleged anti-competitive cooperation when selling Apple and Beats products, Reuters reports.

italyapplestore
In November 2021, Italy's antitrust watchdog hit Apple and Amazon with a €200 million ($196 million) fine in the culmination of an investigation that began in 2020 over allegations that the two companies had been blocking the sale of Apple and Beats devices to resellers in order to stifle competition and keep prices high.

The regulator said contractual provisions of a 2018 agreement between the two companies meant only selected resellers were allowed to sell the products on Amazon's Italian store, which was in violation of EU rules and affected competition on prices.

Amazon was fined €68.7 million euros ($67.6 million), while Apple received a fine of €134.5 million ($132.3 million). The watchdog also ordered the companies to end the restrictions to give retailers of genuine Apple and Beats products access to the Italian Amazon web store in a "non-discriminatory manner."

Both Apple and Amazon appealed against the fines. "To ensure our customers purchase genuine products, we work closely with our reseller partners and have dedicated teams of experts around the world who work with law enforcement, customs and merchants to ensure only genuine Apple products are being sold," Apple said, denying any wrongdoing. In a separate statement Amazon said it strongly disagreed with the decision of the Italian authority and that the proposed fine was "disproportionate and unjustified."

Earlier this year, the fine was reduced to an overall €173.3 million ($170.4 million) due to a "material error" in the initial calculation. Amazon welcomed today's ruling in a statement, while Apple and Italy's antitrust regulator declined to comment.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Tags: Apple Antitrust, Italy

Popular Stories

iPhone SE 4 Thumb 1

iPhone SE 4 With Apple's Own 5G Modem 'Confirmed' to Launch in March

Tuesday November 19, 2024 12:12 pm PST by
Barclays analyst Tom O'Malley and his colleagues recently traveled to Asia to meet with various electronics manufacturers and suppliers. In a research note this week, outlining key takeaways from the trip, the analysts said they have "confirmed" that a fourth-generation iPhone SE with an Apple-designed 5G modem is slated to launch towards the end of the first quarter next year. In line with previo...
Read Full Article • 117 comments
airtag purple

AirTag 2 Rumored to Launch Next Year With These New Features

Sunday November 17, 2024 5:18 am PST by
Apple released the AirTag in April 2021, so it is now three over and a half years old. While the AirTag has not received any hardware updates since then, a new version of the item tracking accessory is rumored to be in development. Below, we recap rumors about a second-generation AirTag. Timing Apple is aiming to release a new AirTag in mid-2025, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman....
Read Full Article • 95 comments
Magic Mouse Next to Keyboard

No, Apple CEO Tim Cook Didn't Say He Prefers Logitech's MX Master 3 Over the Magic Mouse

Sunday November 17, 2024 3:03 pm PST by
While the Logitech MX Master 3 is a terrific mouse for the Mac, reports claiming that Apple CEO Tim Cook prefers that mouse over the Magic Mouse are false. The Wall Street Journal last month published an interview with Cook, in which he said he uses every Apple product every day. Soon after, The Verge's Wes Davis attempted to replicate using every Apple product in a single day. During that...
Read Full Article • 327 comments
Generic iOS 18 Feature Real Mock

Apple Releases iOS 18.1.1 and iPadOS 18.1.1 With Security Fixes

Tuesday November 19, 2024 10:10 am PST by
Apple today released iOS 18.1.1 and iPadOS 18.1.1, minor updates to the iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 operating systems that debuted earlier in September. iOS 18.1.1 and iPadOS 18.1.1 come three weeks after the launch of iOS 18.1. The new software can be downloaded on eligible iPhones and iPads over-the-air by going to Settings > General > Software Update. Apple has also released iOS 17.7.2 for...
Read Full Article • 28 comments
at t turbo indicator iphone 16 pro max v0 8hrh7w5f3w1e1

AT&T Turbo Indicator Showing Up in iPhone Status Bar for Subscribers

Wednesday November 20, 2024 3:42 am PST by
AT&T has begun displaying "Turbo" in the iPhone carrier label for customers subscribed to its premium network prioritization service, according to reports on Reddit. The new indicator seems to have started appearing after users updated to iOS 18.1.1, but that could be just coincidence. Image credit: Reddit user No_Highlight7476 The Turbo feature provides enhanced network performance through ...
Read Full Article • 89 comments
iPhone 17 Slim Feature Single Camera 1 Redux

'iPhone 17 Air' Rumored to Surpass iPhone 6 as Thinnest iPhone Ever

Monday November 18, 2024 1:07 pm PST by
In a research note with Hong Kong-based investment bank Haitong today, obtained by MacRumors, Apple analyst Jeff Pu said he agrees with a recent rumor claiming that the so-called "iPhone 17 Air" will be around 6mm thick. "We agreed with the recent chatter of an 6mm thickness ultra-slim design of the iPhone 17 Slim model," he wrote. If that measurement proves to be accurate, there would be ...
Read Full Article • 155 comments
bug security vulnerability issue fix larry

Make Sure to Update: iOS 18.1.1 and macOS Sequoia 15.1.1 Fix Actively Exploited Vulnerabilities

Tuesday November 19, 2024 10:52 am PST by
The iOS 18.1.1, iPadOS 18.1.1, and macOS Sequoia 15.1.1 updates that Apple released today address JavaScriptCore and WebKit vulnerabilities that Apple says have been actively exploited on some devices. With the JavaScriptCore vulnerability, processing maliciously crafted web content could lead to arbitrary code execution. The WebKit vulnerability had the same issue with maliciously crafted...
Read Full Article • 69 comments

Top Rated Comments

kc9hzn Avatar
kc9hzn
28 months ago
I do remember when this started that Apple was targeting the counterfeit market on Amazon. Remember, it had gotten to the point where you weren’t guaranteed a genuine Apple product even if it was shipped by Amazon. (It was especially bad with things like USB power bricks and the Lightning to 3.5mm dongle, I got bit by a counterfeit one of the latter from Amazon around that time.)
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
_Spinn_ Avatar
_Spinn_
28 months ago
Glad this was reversed since Apple and Amazon were trying to stop counterfeit products.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
avz Avatar
avz
28 months ago
Is this the first sign of the end of the EU's "antitrust consensus"? Or the sign of the end of the EU itself?
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jhfenton Avatar
jhfenton
28 months ago

I do remember when this started that Apple was targeting the counterfeit market on Amazon. Remember, it had gotten to the point where you weren’t guaranteed a genuine Apple product even if it was shipped by Amazon. (It was especially bad with things like USB power bricks and the Lightning to 3.5mm dongle, I got bit by a counterfeit one of the latter from Amazon around that time.)
It was bad. I received a pair of counterfeit EarPods from an Amazon purchase. The packaging was intended to mimic Apple's, but was not quite there, and the same for the headphones themselves. But they had fooled Amazon into stocking them in their "Fulfilled by Amazon" third-party seller program.

Edited: It was April 2014.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
rpmurray Avatar
rpmurray
28 months ago

Amazon is a monster. I’ve had maybe 5% worth of bad experiences with them. Where something isn’t the brand I was buying and nowhere matches the description.
Back when I was younger and more naive I used to think that the reviews on Amazon for a product were for the product the reviews are under. Then I wised up and realized that Amazon mixes reviews for similar products and different sellers all in the same pot.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jimbobb24 Avatar
jimbobb24
28 months ago

If you think Amazon makes any real effort to stop counterfeits then I've got a bridge to sell ya.? Put a tollbooth at both ends and y'all be raking in the dough in no time.

I've read hundreds of reviews on Amazon where customers were shipped counterfeits. That's only on the stuff I was interested in buying. They're are probably thousands or millions others who have been had despite Amazon's stringent?? anti-counterfeiting?? efforts.
It is both possible that amazon makes a real effort and that counterfeits get through. For example we make a real effort to stop crime but some crime still occurs.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Read All Comments