France Wants Apple To Pay $55M For Unfair Contract Requirements

H

HardOCP News

[H] News
Joined
Dec 31, 1969
Messages
0
While, at a glance, this may seem like another cash grab on an American company overseas, the long list of complaints filed by France’s Directorate General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control seems pretty legitimate.

The DGCCRF outlined 10 clauses in Apple’s contracts specifically that it wants the company to remove. The clauses relate to stipulations Apple enforces including the amount of product carriers must order, advertising requirements, mobile plans and other guidelines the carriers must follow in order to sell iPhones. Other clauses relate to Apple’s permission to use patents held by carriers, requirements for carriers covering costs of iPhone repairs and in-store displays, and the fact that Apple doesn’t have to adhere to similar guidelines within the contracts.
 
Meh, looks like quotas, and marketing agreements. It'll keep a few of Apple's lawyers busy I guess.
 
Wow, I'm surprised the carriers even bothered. They should have banded together to get rid of those stupid requirements.
 
ruffbytes said:
$55M is a parking ticket for Apple. Good luck collecting France.
Click to expand...

Yeah, 55M for apple is a weekend golfing trip for three. I'm sure Apple's boardroom accumulates that amount in bonuses every five minutes.
 
The amount is not the issue. Explain why the government should be allowed to levy a $55 million tax on a private company for contracts it signed with another (willing) private country?
 
Except that money isn't going to the government. It's going to the companies that they had the contract with. So it's not a tax.

The problem is that the time it would have required for a company to take Apple to court over the legality of the contract would have allowed any other company that just goes and signs it to move well past them in sales. They'd pretty much lose a lot of customers, as many would move to the other carriers who decided to sign the contract to sell the iPhones.

The best move would have just been to sign it to stay competitive against the other companies, then take Apple to court over the legality of the document. It's Apple using it's dominant position to screw carriers.

Hell, explain to me why the government shouldn't be getting involved in unfair business practices. I actually prefer the way they're doing it by giving the money to the companies. Unlike in the US where the government just keeps the money.
 
sleepeeg3 said:
The amount is not the issue. Explain why the government should be allowed to levy a $55 million tax on a private company for contracts it signed with another (willing) private country?
Click to expand...

If said contracts breach the local law then that is all the explanation required.

It isn't a Tax btw, learn the difference.
 
Leave these corporations alone, the government has no place enforcing laws that persecute the united citizens of the world.

Private citizens are where laws belong, shove them in a hole and execute them en masse, they're all net-takers anyway.
 
krotch said:
Except that money isn't going to the government. It's going to the companies that they had the contract with. So it's not a tax.

The problem is that the time it would have required for a company to take Apple to court over the legality of the contract would have allowed any other company that just goes and signs it to move well past them in sales. They'd pretty much lose a lot of customers, as many would move to the other carriers who decided to sign the contract to sell the iPhones.

The best move would have just been to sign it to stay competitive against the other companies, then take Apple to court over the legality of the document. It's Apple using it's dominant position to screw carriers.

Hell, explain to me why the government shouldn't be getting involved in unfair business practices. I actually prefer the way they're doing it by giving the money to the companies. Unlike in the US where the government just keeps the money.
Click to expand...
Although most of the money is going to the French carriers, there is 8 million Euros in fines (which presumably does go to the government). So the government does benefit from this as well as the carriers.
 
kbrickley said:
Although most of the money is going to the French carriers, there is 8 million Euros in fines (which presumably does go to the government). So the government does benefit from this as well as the carriers.
Click to expand...

Depends how long the court battle goes on for. That fine can easily turn into not a whole lot of nothing.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top