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December 27, 2011

Hey Apple, Don't Leave Out Details on the Free, Required Warranty, Italian Regulators Say

By Ed Silverstein, TMCnet Contributor

Italian government regulators have fined Apple (News - Alert) about $1.2 million for failing to tell its customers about details on a required product protection plan, according to media reports.



Reuters says the Italian authority ruled that Apple failed to tell customers they had two free years of assistance according to the laws of Italy – beyond a separate corporate plan.

Apple instead urged customers to purchase the "AppleCare Protection Plan," and failed to clarify “it overlapped with the free assistance required by law,” Reuters (News - Alert) reported.

The Antitrust Authority ruled that Apple “failed to inform shoppers of their legal right to two years' technical support” instead only a one-year standard warranty,” the BBC adds.

As part of the penalty, Apple will also have to include part of the regulatory ruling on a website, and has to include “details of the two-year guarantee to its Applecare plan within 90 days,” the BBC says.

In its analysis of the ruling, Macgasm says, “The question here is whether or not Apple, and by extension other companies, are responsible for educating the public about their consumer rights.”

“Everywhere you look in North America companies hock their extended warranties and conveniently neglect to educate consumers on standard manufacturer warranties,” the tech site says, adding that “ultimately” the responsibility falls “on the consumer’s shoulders.”

Meanwhile, Apple is the target of another inquiry about possible price-fixing with e-book publishers, according to allegations from the European Union. According to an EU press release, Hachette Livre, Harper Collins, Simon & Schuster, Penguin and Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holzbrinck may have – “possibly with the help of Apple” – taken part in “anti-competitive practices,” says TMCnet. The European Commission will look at whether there was any restricted competition in the EU because of the actions of the companies, TMCnet adds.

In addition, the EU is reviewing Apple’s legal dispute with Samsung (News - Alert) Electronics over patents.


Ed Silverstein is a TMCnet contributor. To read more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.

Edited by Stefanie Mosca
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