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posted by janrinok on Friday November 26 2021, @06:48AM   Printer-friendly
from the beats'-bad-business-barriers-beaten-back-by-big-beatdown dept.

Italy fines Amazon, Apple $230M over reseller collusion – TechCrunch:

Amazon and Apple have been hit with almost $230 million (€203M) in total fines by Italy’s antitrust authority — following an investigation into reselling of Apple and (Apple-owned) Beats kit on Amazon’s Italian ecommerce marketplace.

The authority says the alleged collusion decreased the level of discounts available to consumers buying Apple and Beats products on the Amazon Italy marketplace.

It has also ordered the tech giants to end the restrictions on resellers.

The AGCM announced the sanction today, saying its probe identified a restrictive agreement between the pair to block some “legitimate” resellers of Beats products on Amazon.it.

The fine breaks down into €134.5M (~$151M) for Amazon — and €68.7M (~$77.3M) for Apple.

The agreement in question was signed between the pair back in October 2018.

Per the AGCM’s press release, it found the agreement contained a number of contractual clauses which prohibited official and unofficial resellers of Apple and Beats products from using Amazon.it — with the restriction limiting the sale of Apple and Beats products on Amazon.it to Amazon itself and a number of resellers the authority says were “chosen individually and in a discriminatory way” — in violation of Art. 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 26 2021, @10:03PM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 26 2021, @10:03PM (#1199840)

    You can't have it both ways.

    If they didn't know, why are they liable? You're basically hanging a target on the back of anyone even thinking of being a director or company officer or manage.

    "Sorry, Bob, we know you just started your position as director last week, but this internet rando says that because somebody blew a whistle, you now owe millions upon millions of dollars regardless of your ability to do a damn thing about it. Sucks to be you."

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 26 2021, @11:15PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 26 2021, @11:15PM (#1199848)

    It is the job to know. If they do not then they are failing their roles.

    Not knowing is. Like not knowing a law. Is no defense.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 27 2021, @12:31AM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 27 2021, @12:31AM (#1199859)

      Right, because you get appointed director and immediately know what random middle manager arranged in a different country with a supplier you've never met. It's mystical. It's psychic!

      It's a recipe for never having anybody become director for anything ever again. "What, I become criminally liable for things I don't know and can't control? Fuck a long-stemmed bunch of that shit, I'll go binge-watch Jersey Shore instead." And, ta-daa! Company governance becomes impossible because everybody knows that it's a one-way ticket to reamingtown.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 27 2021, @04:31AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 27 2021, @04:31AM (#1199897)

        Military does it
        Any org can.

        You sound risk adverse. Do not take the job until full review of actions. You are signing off on it. Same action iwth "cooking" the books and CEO are forsed to sign off on something they do not follow. SOX and JSOX. I live with that daily.

        Then again criminal action is something CEO need to weed out. Whistle-blow on old CEO. Make some dough. Audit the company before taking the role. Do you really trust to seonds? Do you really trust the other managers on down. You a betting your ass. But the pay off is big.