Apple under investigation by South Korean anti-competition body

AppleInsiderAppleInsider
Posted:
in General Discussion edited April 2018
A South Korean government body is investigating Apple over "some matters" pertaining to the company's dealings there, a report said Tuesday local time without revealing the nature of the probe.
Jeong Jae-Chan, chairman of South Korea's Fair Trade Commission, revealed the investigation into Apple during a parliamentary hearing on Tuesday, but declined to further elaborate on the topic when questioned by a lawmaker, Reuters reports. Local media earlier this month claimed the KFTC was looking into Apple's contracts with South Korean wireless carriers, the report said. Whether Jae-Chan's statement today is tied to those rumors is unknown. Apple is no stranger to Korea's economic authority. In 2012 the company was on the other side of KFTC scrutiny when it lodged formal antitrust complaints against rival Samsung, accusing the Korean tech giant abused certain wireless technology patents to gain the upper hand in a highly competitive smartphone market. At the time, Apple and Samsung were involved in a contentious, multi-jurisdictional patent dispute over a variety of smartphone utility and design properties. The KFTC ultimately rejected Apple's complaint, clearing Samsung of any wrongdoing in using deemed standard-essential patents as legal instruments. While not specified in today's report, Apple's iPhone sales policies might be the target of the latest KFTC investigation. Apple has in the past run afoul of international competition laws for its aggressive carrier deals, most recently drawing the ire of France in April over onerous contract terms. Before that, Taiwan fined Apple $647,000 in 2015 for forcing carriers to seek approval prior to lowering iPhone prices.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 17
    kevin keekevin kee Posts: 1,289member
    How ironic.
    mwhitecali
  • Reply 2 of 17
    baconstangbaconstang Posts: 1,105member
    What do they want to copy now?
    mwhitecaliSpamSandwich
  • Reply 3 of 17
    jungmarkjungmark Posts: 6,926member
    I guess Sammy's latest check cleared. 
    mwhitebaconstanglatifbpjbdragonSpamSandwichcornchip
  • Reply 4 of 17
    john.bjohn.b Posts: 2,742member
    South Korea's "Fair Trade Chaebol".
    baconstangjony0
  • Reply 5 of 17
    9secondkox29secondkox2 Posts: 2,702member
    Samsung town South korea "investigating" Apple. More like gassing up the bus to throw them under.
    caliSpamSandwichlatifbp
  • Reply 6 of 17
    jdunysjdunys Posts: 18member
    Is Samsung doing that bad?
    EsquireCatscalijbdragonSpamSandwichjony0
  • Reply 7 of 17
    EsquireCatsEsquireCats Posts: 1,268member
    Let's not pretend that the South Korean market is free and fair, it's highly politicised and Samsung's competitors are frequently targeted over spurious claims.
    lollivercalijbdragoncornchipjony0
  • Reply 8 of 17
    revenantrevenant Posts: 621member
    Living in Seoul, I can assure you it is not fair. Even other Korean companies have to fight it out with Samsung. They like their place and money flows quick enough and the government has helped more than once already. 
    lollivercalijbdragonSpamSandwichcornchipjohn.bjony0
  • Reply 9 of 17
    wonkothesanewonkothesane Posts: 1,721member
    Look, they even stole the Pepsi logo ;) 

    SCNR
    caliSpamSandwichlatifbp
  • Reply 10 of 17
    foggyhillfoggyhill Posts: 4,767member
    This must be a joke in the land of Samsung who basically controls the political wheels of power.
    cali
  • Reply 11 of 17
    maestro64maestro64 Posts: 5,043member
    You have to pay to play in someone else sand box. The problem we have is the US government made it illegal for US companies to pay to play in other countries markets, but those foreign companies can come to the US and dump their crap in our market and the US thinks nothing of it. Our company are always put at some sort of disadvantage outside the US but no company is put at any disadvantage in the US market.
    edited June 2016 caliSpamSandwichcornchip
  • Reply 12 of 17
    calicali Posts: 3,494member
    Why Sammy isn't banned in the U.S. is beyond me.
  • Reply 13 of 17
    jdgazjdgaz Posts: 404member
    No Samsung in this house. Appliances included.
  • Reply 14 of 17
    messagepad2100messagepad2100 Posts: 213member
    Samsung is an evil chaebol.  It's got fingers in government.  IIRC the CEO should be in jail, but his buddies helped him out.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaebol#Criticism

    They are also considered too big to fail - so they get government favors all the time.  Samsung is especially bad.
  • Reply 15 of 17
    joshajosha Posts: 901member
    jdunys said:
    Is Samsung doing that bad?
    Apple must be eating a bit of Samsung's market share in Samsung's home ground.
    Naughty Apple;  Samsung customers are supposed to be hooked on two handed very large screen phones.
  • Reply 16 of 17
    davegrantdavegrant Posts: 3member
    Not sure if it's funny or sad.

    @wonkothesane haha, true!  :D
  • Reply 17 of 17
    caccamuccacaccamucca Posts: 30member
    South Korean Fair Trade, copy and rip off all you can for Sammy.

    삼성 = Samsung = Samedung
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