The basis of the decision has not yet been announced, and Apple had not commented at the time of writing …
The reason given for this was that it was sometimes hard to tell who was actually selling a product, and whether or not it was genuine. All products sold through the official store are certified genuine.
However, small resellers complained that this completely destroyed their businesses, as the requirements for becoming an authorized reseller include hitting sales volumes of millions of dollars.
Now overturned by court
A brief Reuters report says that the fine has now been overturned.
The basis for this decision has not yet been reported, but both companies had argued that their primary aim was to stop the sale of counterfeit products – especially cables and chargers – and to ensure a high standard of customer service.
Earlier this year, the fine was reduced to an overall 173.3 million euros due to a “material error” in the first calculation. read more
Apple said back in 2016 that its own testing had revealed that almost 90% of power bricks and Lightning cables claiming to be genuine were in fact fake, with one particular seller, Mobile Star, responsible for a substantial number of them.
Perhaps Tim has friends in high places …
