At the start of October, an Italian administrative court ruled that Apple and Amazon no longer have to pay a $225 million fine levied by Italy's antitrust authority last year. The Italian antitrust authority had found that Amazon's aggressive sales of Apple Beats products were anti-competitive and that this “collusion” violated European rules on price competition. The companies had an agreement limiting the resale of Apple products to “selected resellers.”
The tech giants argued on appeal that they were not given enough time to properly defend themselves and that the watchdog group, AGCM, improperly conducted elements of the investigation, resulting in a ruling in their favor. Earlier this year, the fine was reduced due to a “material error” in the first calculation. While the companies are still considered in violation of the law, the penalty was reversed because of administrative errors.
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