Tag: Fine

Qualcomm Hit With a US$773 Million Fine In Taiwan

Qualcomm, theSan Diego-based chipset maker was fined for US$773 million by Taiwan’s Fair Trade Commission. The Commission said that Qualcomm misused the monopoly in the smartphone business to squeeze higher licensing fees and better terms out of its customers.

The commission said that Qualcomm’s dominance in CDMA and LTE chips, as well as its major patent holdings for both technologies, let the company abuse its position and refuse to license necessary patents. It’ll now be required to end those practices and parts of unfavourable deals it forged with other companies. This is not the first time that Qualcomm has been fined, South Korea and China have also fined Qualcomm in the last 2 years and Apple is involved in a series of lawsuits globally against Qualcomm over similar practices.

On its website, FTC says:

Qualcomm holds big number of standard essential patents in CDMA, WCDMA and LTE segments and is the dominant provider of CDMA, WCDMA and LTE baseband chips. It abused its advantage in mobile communication standards, refused to license necessary patents.

By not providing products to its clients who don’t agree to its terms, Qualcomm is abusing the monopoly it has in the business, therefore violating the local anti trust laws. According to FTC, local companies purchased around US$30 billion worth of Qualcomm’s chips, which is way more than the fine it was dealt with.

In response to the fine, Qualcomm has said:

The fine bears no rational relationship to the amount of Qualcomm’s revenues or activities in Taiwan, and Qualcomm will appeal the amount of the fine and the method used to calculate it.

Even though Qualcomm’s Snapdragon processors power most of the Android devices in the market with the only real resistance coming rom MediaTek, Qualcomm’s main money minting business is that of licensing patents. That business however, is under attack right now around the world. Countries and companies have finally decided to take action against the alleged unfair practices of Qualcomm.

October 12, 2017
Uber Fined $20,000 Over ‘God View’ Tool in the US

Uber’s ‘God View’ tool allowed employees to access and track the location of Uber drivers and customers without their permission or their knowledge. The company ran into trouble with the tool in 2014 when an Uber executive tracked the whereabouts of a Buzzfeed journalist while she was not aware of it.

When the issue was brought out in the public, required action was taken against the executive. The concerned executive explained the act by saying the reporter’s location was monitored because she was 30 minutes late for a meeting. Uber later declared the act to be one of “poor judgement”.However, the cat was out of the bag now and had attracted the attention of the lawmakers. What started in 2014 has now finally concluded with a $20,000 fine being imposed on Uber. The settlement was reached between the company and New York Defence Attorney General Eric Schneiderman yesterday.

The settlement also requires Uber to revise its privacy policy. Geolocation for both the driver and the customer would now be encrypted and password protected. Additionally, ‘God View’ would now be available only to a handful of employees, unlike before when a large number of them could use it. The use of the tool is justified only for “legitimate business purposes”, says the company.

January 7, 2016
Google Fined $1.2 Million By Spain For Violating Privacy Laws

Spain on Thursday fined Google for breaking the country’s data protection law. The charge by Spain authorities claim Google for combining personal information from its many different online services and also failing to inform users clearly on how Google uses their data.

Earlier, Google’s new privacy policies were questioned by six European countries, but Spain is the first of them to charge Google with a fine. Spain fined Google €900,000 which is $1.2 million for violation of data protection laws.

The AEPD has found that Google does not give users enough information about which data collected and for what purpose uses, combines those obtained through different services, preserved for an indefinite time and impedes the exercise of the ARCO rights

“Inspections have shown that Google compiles personal information through close to one hundred services and products it offers in Spain, without providing in many cases the adequate information about the data that is being gathered, why it is gathered and without obtaining the consent of the owners,” said the Spanish Agency for Data Protection in a statement.

However, this is not a huge amount for a company like Google, but it is not about the money here. Google will probably have to make privacy policies that will work for every country’s law and not target on any individual’s privacy.

December 20, 2013
Samsung to Pay $290 Million More To Apple

A jury on thursday decided that Samsung will have to pay Apple a sum of $290,456,793 more for its patent infringement case. This comes after Samsung has already been asked to shell out 1 billion US $ to Apple. This amount is still less than what Apple had demanded, which was $390 Million.

The total money Samsung has paid or will pay to Apple has now reached approx. $930 million, just to let you get a fair idea it is approx. 5833,23,90,000 in Indian Rupee.

For Apple, this case has always been about more than patents and money,” Apple said in a statement. “It has been about innovation and the hard work that goes into inventing products that people love. While it’s impossible to put a price tag on those values, we are grateful to the jury for showing Samsung that copying has a cost.”

Samsung, said it is “disappointed by today’s decision, which is based in large part on a patent that the US Patent and Trademark Office has recently deemed invalid.”

While we move forward with our post-trial motions and appeals, we will continue to innovate with groundbreaking technologies and great products that are loved by our many customers all around the world,” the Korean company said in a statement.

During the session, Apple said that if Samsung did not use infringement devices they would have sold alot of iPhone’s throughout the world. Apple claimed that Samsung was the reason for the company to not earn more profits from iPhone’s, so Samsung should compensate it.

On the other hand, Samsung showcased reports of why people bought Samsung phones. Samsung showcased that all of its consumers got attracted towards bigger screens, better battery and alot more.

However, as said by the jury members: Samsung didn’t provide enough information to make its case. We hope this ends the lawsuit, and both the companies continue the innovation and stop the endless war.

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November 23, 2013
Google To Pay $17 Million For Unauthorized Web Tracking in Safari

Google has agreed to pay $17 million to settle an investigation of unauthorized tracking software on Safari Web browsers. New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced the agreement on Google’s “unauthorized placement of cookies on computers using Apple Safari Web browsers during 2011 and 2012.”

The settlement includes 37 states and the federal District of Columbia. New York will receive $899,580, Schneiderman said. “Consumers should be able to know whether there are other eyes surfing the web with them. By tracking millions of people without their knowledge, Google violated not only their privacy, but also their trust,” Schneiderman said. “We must give consumers the reassurance that they can browse the Internet safely and securely. My office will continue to protect New Yorkers from any attempts to deliberately expose their personal data.”

A Google spokesperson confirmed the agreement and said in a statement: “We work hard to get privacy right at Google and have taken steps to remove the ad cookies, which collected no personal information, from Apple’s browsers. We’re pleased to have worked with the state attorneys general to reach this agreement.”

[wsj]

November 19, 2013
Google To Pay €300,000 Fine for Privacy Violations to a French Agency

France’s National Commission on Computing and Freedom (CNIL) threatened Google with a €300,000 fine due to the company’s lack of compliance with a June decision aimed at protecting users’ private data. The French agency that regulates information technology says Google had not satisfactorily responded to its June decision giving the company three months to be more upfront about the data it collects from users.

In a statement Friday, France’s National Commission on Computing and Freedom, known as CNIL, said:

Google hasn’t made requested changes, including specifying to users what it uses personal data for, and how long it’s held. CNIL said it will now launch formal sanction proceedings, a process that could take months.

On the other hand, Google spokesman Al Verney said:

Our privacy policy respects European law and allows us to create simpler, more effective services. We have engaged fully with CNIL throughout this process and will continue to do so going forward.”

The National Commission on Computing and Freedom said five other European countries are also taking similar steps in a staggered offensive against Google’s privacy policy between now and the end of July. It said Google has largely ignored earlier recommendations from European regulators. Similar actions are underway in Spain, Germany, Britain, Italy and Netherlands.

September 28, 2013
Sony To Pay £250k Fine For 2011 UK Data Breach

Sony has admitted it won’t carry on its appeal against a £250,000 fine handed to the firm in Britain following serious breaches of its PlayStation networks in 2011.

ICO fined the firm back in January, after finding that the breach was “preventable” and that Sony, as a business, “should have known better” as the occurrence fell under the Data Protection Act.

A Sony spokesperson said. “After careful consideration we are withdrawing our appeal. This decision reflects our commitment to protect the confidentiality of our network security from disclosures in the course of the proceeding. We continue to disagree with the decision on the merits.”

The fine was handed to Sony by the Information Commissioner’s Office after its PlayStation Network was breached and data on 77 million users exposed. Further breaches of SCEE-related infrastructure led to data of millions more being compromised.

Despite it’s decision not to appeal the fine, Sony said it continues to “disagree with the decision on the merits.”

Unsurprisingly, ICO said that it was delighted with the change of heart. “We welcome Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Limited’s decision not to appeal our penalty notice following a serious breach of the Data Protection Act,” a representative said.

[Via]

July 15, 2013
Google Fined In Germany Over Street View Data Collection

A German privacy regulator fined Google €145,000 on Monday for its systematic, illegal collection of personal data while it was creating its Street View mapping service, and it called on European lawmakers to significantly raise fines for violations of data protection laws.

It found that while specially equipped Google vehicles took city snapshots between 2008 and 2010 for its Street View function, which supplements its standard map service, they had also picked up data from unsecured wireless networks.

“Among the information gathered in the drive-bys were significant amounts of personal data of varying quality. For example emails, passwords, photos and chat protocols were collected,” the Hamburg authorities said in a statement.

Hamburg data regulator Johannes Caspar explained: “In my view, this is one of the biggest data protection rules violations known,” said Caspar. Google’s “internal control mechanisms must have severely failed.”

It not the first time Google as been fined for such a breach of data protection, with the French privacy regulator levying a €100,000 penalty on Google in 2011. However Google has now tightened up its policy with using the Google Street View car systems to address issues raised in the latest data protection violation, Peter Fleischer, Google’s global privacy counsel, said in a statement.

The commissioner also ordered Google to delete all the data it had gathered. A third party verified that Google indeed deleted the data.

Google said it would not appeal the fine.

[The Guardian]

April 22, 2013