June 10, 2015
After a 24-year wait, a national competition policy prohibiting anti-competitive agreements or conducts and other unfair business practices will soon become a law with the House of Representatives’ ratification of the proposed Fair Competition Law on June 10, 2015.
The consolidated bill’s ratification comes after its approval by the Bicameral Conference Committee during a nine-four marathon session on June 8, 2015.
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May 26, 2015
An Italian court has placed a nationwide ban on Uber’s low-cost UberPOP car-sharing service, alleging it creates “unfair competition” for the country’s traditional taxi drivers. The ruling also prohibits other car-ride services by unlicensed drivers.
On Tuesday, May 26, Judge Claudio Marangoni ruled that UberPOP – one of the services offered by the San-Francisco-based company – violated the administrative rules that regulate the taxi industry.
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April 10, 2015
CCI chairman Ashok Chawla told PTI that it is trying to understand whether such practices are just sectoral or tariff issues or whether they violate competition norms. The matter is at a preliminary stage, he added.
Competition Commission is looking at whether telecom and Internet service providers are engaging in unfair business practices by providing preferential treatment for select mobile applications and websites.
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April 6, 2015
Plaintiffs Daniel McKee and Gary Feitelson withdrew their lawsuit against search giant Google on April 3. The plaintiffs argued that Google was engaging in unfair competition through the design of its Android smart phone operating system. By requiring hardware manufacturers that use the Android operating system to favor Google online content properties like Youtube and not loading competing search engine apps like Microsoft’s Bing, Google was engaged in unfair competition.
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February 18, 2015
Yandex filed a complaint against Google, alleging that the Android operating system is being used to give the latter’s services unfair advantage.
Google is being accused of forcing device manufacturers to set their default search engine to Google if they wish to preinstall its Google Play Store, which is considered one of the best marketplace for applications and other media content, such as movies and e-books, for devices running the Android operating system.
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January 12, 2015
The Commercial Advertisement and Unfair Trade Practices Directive issued by the Ministry of Customs and Commerce has been published in the Official Gazette and is now implemented. The new directive, which will initiate a new era in advertising, bans immoral ads that force parents to increase their purchases. Elements that encourage children toward violent acts will now be prohibited. Further, product prices will not include phrases such as “only,” “just,” et cetera. Companies will be able to advertise by using titles, logos and other distinguishing marks of their competitors without misleading or deceiving consumers or causing unfair competition. Any information or data included in advertisements must be provable. If any ad includes the phrase “No. 1,” this also needs to be provable. Ads that include the price of the product or the service should also include all taxes, and consumers will not be misled by ambiguous phrases such as “discount up to…,” as ads will need to include the actual sales price. The broadcast ban will be applied to fortunetellers and psychics. Further, in tourism, prices of foreign holiday packages or tours will be displayed in Turkish Lira. (DAILY SABAH)
January 2, 2015
NEW DELHI – The Competition Commission has ordered an investigation against Great Eastern Energy Corp for allegedly indulging in unfair business practices with respect to sale of coal bed methane gas to entities in West Bengal.
Great Eastern Energy Corporation Ltd (GEECL) is engaged in exploration, development, production, distribution and sale of CBM gas.
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January 2, 2015
If you’ve flown anywhere you know prices are not cheap.
A website called www.skiplagged.com found a way around those expensive tickets, but now it’s under fire with an airline and travel company.
The website finds cheap tickets by using “hidden cities.”
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December 24, 2014
Korea’s two biggest movie chains — CGV and Lotte Cinema — have been fined a combined five million U.S. dollars for engaging in unfair practices on December 22, 2014.
These practices include giving affiliate distributors more screens to show their movies and allowing them to screen the films for longer periods of time.
The Fair Trade Commission said the moves gave CJ CGV and Lotte Cinema an unfair advantage at the box office.
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November 28, 2014
The Bulgarian Competition Council fined Dante International, owner of online retailer eMAG, with a total of BGN 758,300 (EUR 387,500) for unfair practices during two promotional campaigns, according to Sofia Globe, quoted by Mediafax.
According to the institution, eMAG was fined for commercials promising the biggest sale of the year. eMag was fined BGN 551,550 representing 4 percent of the retailers income in 2013 for its Black Friday campaign.
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