“Taiwan’s Fair Trade Commission on Thursday fined the local unit of South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co. for undermining the reputation of Taiwanese mobile phone maker HTC Corp.,” The Associated Press reports.
“In a notice on its website, the consumer protection body said that Samsung had organized an Internet campaign in violation of fair trade rules to praise Samsung smartphones while slamming those of HTC,” AP reports. “The FTC set Samsung’s fine at New Taiwan dollars 10 million ($340,000).”
AP reports, “Earlier this year the FTC fined Samsung NT$300,000 for misleading advertising about the camera functions on its Galaxy Y Duos GT-S6102 phone.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Do you support criminal enterprises? You do, if you buy Samsung-branded products (this goes for you, too, Tim).
FRAND abuse. FTC violations. Blatant, pervasive IP theft. Illegal disclosures of secret documents. Coverups. Where does it end?
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Mac from way back” for the heads up.]
Related articles:
China’s state-run media slams Samsung for charging customers to fix defective phones – October 23, 2013
EU says Samsung offers to stop patent lawsuits in Europe in order to avoid $18.3 billion FRAND abuse fine – October 17, 2013
U.S. District Judge Koh denies Samsung motions, finds Apple licensing disclosures ‘improper,’ cover-up ‘inexcusable’ – October 16, 2013
Dyson sues Samsung for ripping off its patented vacuum steering mechanism – September 10, 2013
Brazil initiates legal action against Samsung alleging labor law violations – August 13, 2013
Apple is plainly winning the patent war initiated by Samsung’s blatant infringement – August 12, 2013
Once a cheater always a cheater. Is anyone surprise Samsung got fined. Only question why was the fined so small. This is just beer money for Samsung it will not stop them from doing it again.
The fine is most likely based on Samsung’s sales within Taiwan, not the whole world.
What I love about these “fines” are that they don’t usually end up in the offended company’s pockets but line government coffers. Who’s helping who?
Why wa the fine so small?
Because 10 million new Taiwan dollars sounds a lot bigger than $340,000 U.S. 😉
The values, ethics and morals of the company is reflected in such actions. No two ways about it.
MDN, why the hatred for Tim? Steve Jobs consorted with Samsung as well and you always heaped gushing praise on Steve?
Quality, quantity, ethics. Pick any 2. MDN keeps ignoring that.
In the past, quality of yield was an issue for alternate suppliers. They’ve apparently caught up or are close to it, but they still aren’t able to produce enough *quantity* of components that still pass Apple’s high QA standards and still produce millions of devices in a short timeframe. It’s not a matter of money, Apple has plenty to throw at the problem, it’s experience and expertise at the fabrication companies and plants, and that takes time to build.
Apple would’ve dumped Samsung long ago if they could have.
I agree! Apple is not opening any new lines of business with Samsung and is trying it’s level best to wean itself from Samscum. Apple need to use some of it’s cash horde to invest in these critical subsuppliers to hasten their development and Apple’s ultimate severing of business with Samscum.
Same thing is happening in China with direct copying of products but it isn’t being played out in the courts because there aren’t many companies willing to go after the cheaters like Apple.
I’m sure you meant
“willing to go after the cheaters like Apple” — is going after.
1. MacDailyNews has been and continues to be very supportive of Tim Cook.
2. MacDailyNews is consistent on the issue: No Samsung support by anybody, including Apple.
3. Steve Jobs worked with Samsung before it became clear what they were going to do. He was busy trying to stay alive during his last years. Tim Cook was COO and in charge of sourcing components, not Steve Jobs. MacDailyNews has consistently criticized Tim Cook for boxing Apple into a corner with respect to Samsung. Cook made a mistake. Apple still pays Samsung for parts. That is a travesty.
4. It’s a matter of consistency. MacDailyNews can’t call Samsung a criminal worthy of boycott and not call for Apple to cease dealingn with Samsung.
5. Apple has more than enough money and has had more than enough time to cut Samsung out of the supply chain. MacDailyNews is right to criticize Apple and Tim Cook on this matter.
Your final points are completely ignorant. Apple would have cut Samsung out of its supplier picture years ago if it could, but there simply aren’t very many companies which can make many of the parts to Apple’s specifications. In addition, many supplier contracts are done for years at a time, so Apple would be in breach of contract if it terminated early simply because Samsung was doing other things not related to producing displays or chips.
Apple has been reducing its business with Samsung (and diversifying its parts suppliers and assemblers in general). But Apple also continues to sell more and more iPhones and iPads, making a complete dropping of Samsung impossible.
So, that is what it looks like when a government stands up for the companies located in their country. And it took less that 5 to 10 years to get a ruling on it. Who knew!
Hey NYT! You want another Pulitzer? How about you do some real Jounalism? A big investigative report needs to be done on Samesung’s efforts to pay for anti-Apple headlines, Articles, Fake postings, comments & reviews. Samesung fears having their corporate warfare smear campaign exposed. look how quickly they reacted to the Taiwan HTC investigation by the FTC. Maybe then, even the Hee Haw demographic will decide against giving Samesung their money.
Hee-Haw demographic doesn’t care, doesn’t read, doesn’t listen, doesn’t learn. They buy the cheapest lookalike and expect everyone who sees it to be impressed because they are a huge dullard also. And for the most part, it’s true because the Hee-Haw demographic pretty much stays within that social / economic sphere.
But, Samscum isn’t just being sold to the Hee-Haw demographic, and that’s whats interesting. I see some, not many, professionals with Samscum products. If they only knew what I and many others think of their choice and how that choice reflects on themselves.
This is essentially an advertising campaign, so probably violates truth-in-advertising laws. It may also represent interstate communications fraud (via internet), which probably violates FCC rules. And since its purpose is ultimately to hurt Apple and bolster Samsung, it may also violates SEC rules governing stock manipulation. (BizLaw – you there – any comment?) But most people just plain don’t like being manipulated by underhanded method, so these unsavory tactics certainly warrant journalistic exposure. Anyone up to the task?
Sad to see the posters online that are probably, most likely Americans defending that POS Samsung and promoting the products. Their biggest argumentative point? Apple is made in China…. can you believe the stupidity of these people.
Samsung had organized an Internet campaign in violation of fair trade rules to praise Samsung smartphones while slamming those of . . .
We’ve had, and still have, those nasty little blighters right here at MDN. It’s the Marketing Moron strategy of the DESPERATE. What a crap company is Samsung.
Her’s some genuine “grass roots” for you, Shamesung…
Shamesung is seriously sneaky and cheats like hell to get ever more of those coveted Amercan $$$. Hit them where it hurts by NOT BUYING ANY Shamesung products.
Mention this to your friends and neighbors too.
Remember to shop wisely. I spent many hous in Costco carefully scrutizing flat screen TVs while the wife shopped. The Vizio 120 Hz, E-Series, 47-inch, smart TV had the best picture in the store and was the personal favorite of a couple if the salesmen there.
No, this isn’t astrturfing, Shamesung; it’s just some good old fashioned American “You can suck me.” And just pardon me all over the place if you don’t like it.
Yesterday I was at the library with my daughter (for story time and crafts). A neighbor’s Au Pair was there with his 2 charges. We were sitting outside the room wherein story time was taking place. I had forgotten to bring my iPad with me, but the Au Pair had his tablet. I could tell it wasn’t an iPad, but I couldn’t tell what it was, so I asked him. He showed it to me and I could immediately see the Samsung name on it. He asked me if I have one. I told him that, yes, I have an iPad. He began to launch into all of the reasons he likes his Samsung tablet better than an iPad. I asked him, probably somewhat rudely, to stow it because I wasn’t at all interested in what redeeming qualities he found in the hardware. He seemed somewhat surprised by my reaction, so I explained to him that I refuse to buy products manufactured by a company that has no ethics. He seemed surprised by this as well, so I told him some of the recent history regarding Samsung. He was completely unaware of any of it. I doubt it will make any difference to his future buying decisions, but I feel as though I’ve done something good.
Samsung makes excellent TVs, and I’m about to buy one. Is there a brand that is superior to Samsung? I don’t buy the cheap stuff. Recommendations?
You don’t buy the cheap stuff, just stuff manufactured by thieves and miscreants?
LG. of which Shamsunk, in order to improve their previous shabby TVs, stole tech IP from inside LG, only to later accuse LG in turn that they had done so! LG TVs were always better before Shamedung stole their knowledge. There is your brand superior to Shankwonk.
Check out LG, Vizio, Sharp, and if you want to treat yourself to the best of the best, try a Panasonic VT-series plasma.