Category: Global Blogs

China: Audi latest to slash prices amid market probe (Competition Policy International)

Audi is the latest luxury automobile manufacturer to make changes to its product pricing in the wake of an investigation into the industry by China’s National Development and Reform Commission, say reports.Audi, owned by Volkswagen, announced Saturday it will reduce spare parts prices in China, though in its statement the …read more

US: Silver price manipulation claims hit top banks (Competition Policy International)

A lawsuit has been filed in the US against three of the world’s largest banks accusing the lenders of manipulating the silver benchmark.

According to reports, J Scott Nicholson filed the suit against HSBC, Deutsche Bank and the Bank of Nova Scotia for fixing silver prices by abusing their positions on …read more

EU: Commission rules on Apple, Beats merger (Competition Policy International)

Apple has reportedly been given antitrust clearance from the European Commission to acquire Beats Electronics.

Reports say the Commission approved of the $3 billion takeover of the maker of Beats Headphones and the operator of music streaming service Beats Music. The acquisition was announced last May.

According to reports, the takeover marks …read more

South Korea: Market braces for Nokia’s evolution to patent troll (Competition Policy International)

As South Korean officials review Microsoft’s acquisition of Nokia’s handset operations, reports say earlier predictions that the rest of the Nokia business will evolve into a patent troll are likely to come true.

According to one unnamed official at Samsung, Nokia has been demanding high patent licensing fees from its rivals; …read more