UPDATED 21:56 EDT / NOVEMBER 23 2021

POLICY

Italian watchdog hits Apple and Amazon with fine over sale of Beats headphones

Italy’s antitrust watchdog has fined Amazon.com Inc. and Apple Inc. around €200 million ($225 million) for breaching antitrust laws over the sale of Beats headphones.

Beats Electronics was founded in 2006 by music producer Dr. Dre and the record company executive Jimmy lovine, partly because of low-quality devices on the market at the time. In 2014, Apple made its largest purchase ever in buying the company for $3.2 billion.

The fine comes after the companies were accused of making an agreement in 2018, in which the authority said the companies colluded in an effort to prevent legitimate resellers from selling the products, and that meant fewer discounts for buyers.

In a press release today, the watchdog said when sellers were chosen they were done so “in a discriminatory way,” adding that such agreements “affected the level of discounts offered by third parties on Amazon.it, decreasing their size.” Apple’s part of the fine was €134.5 million and Amazon’s was €68.7 million.

Apple has already responded to the fine, saying it respects the authority but believes it has “done nothing wrong.” The company said the reason it discriminates against certain sellers is only to ensure that the products are the real deal.

“Non-genuine products deliver an inferior experience and can often be dangerous,” an Apple spokesperson said in a statement to the media. “To ensure our customers purchase genuine products, we work closely with our reseller partners and have dedicated teams of experts around the world who work with law enforcement, customs and merchants, to ensure only genuine Apple products are being sold.”

Amazon has also responded, saying that the fine is “disproportionate and unjustified.” It added, “We reject the suggestion that Amazon benefits by excluding sellers from our store, since our business model relies on their success.” As for denying Italian users of discounts and deals, Amazon said its agreement with Apple increased the number of products and resulted in “better deals and faster shipping.”

Photo: James Yarema/Unsplash

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