Japan's Fair Trade Commission is investigating Apple to determine whether it pressured Japanese suppliers and abused its position of power, thereby violating antimonopoly rules, reports Reuters.
The FTC in Japan surveyed Japanese companies and found that Apple had signed contracts forcing its partners to provide free technology and know-how for parts manufacturing.
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When one of the companies called Apple's contract an infringement of intellectual property rights and demanded a revision, Apple allegedly threatened to end the business relationship between the two companies.
Apple has not commented on the report, but this is just one of several antitrust investigations that have been launched in recent months.
In South Korea, Apple has been accused of offering local carriers unfair iPhone contracts that require them to pay advertising and repair costs, and in Europe, the European Union is investigating Apple's App Store policies following an accusation from Spotify that said Apple uses its App Store to deliberately disadvantage other app developers.
In the United States, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission is investigating the impact of Apple's sales agreement with Amazon on independent resellers, and the U.S. has also launched a broad antitrust review into major tech companies.
Top Rated Comments
(View all)They continued manufacturing for a coupe of more models, but during this period was asked by Apple for details on its manufacturing process. They trusted Apple (silly maybe, but this place is run by a guy in his 60’s, being a craftsman all his life. Not a businessman), but turns out by the following year a large Chinese manufacturer had somehow figured out how to make the part that had been impossible for them, Apple quickly cut ties with the Japanese manufacturer and went with what was now a cheaper part made in China. I was disgusted at the time.
The Macrumors article might be talking about this particular case.
Who among us is shocked by this? :D
Realistically what can the Japanese FTC do? Levy a fine? Drag on a court case? I am not sure the Japanese economy can afford starting a trade war with the United States.
Why would you think this has anything to do with a trade war? It has nothing to do with a trade war.