Sony was fined 13.5 million euros by antitrust authorities in France for abusing its market dominance

[Sony was fined 13.5 million euros by the antitrust agency in France for abusing its market dominance] According to multiple overseas media reports, the French Competition Authority (Autorité de la concurrence) recently fined Sony for abusing PS4 due to a report by French controller manufacturer Subsonic. The punishment was imposed in the name of the dominant position in the console supply market. The main statement of the organization is as follows: First of all, Sony has been using technical countermeasures to crack down on pirated goods since November 2015, which has affected the normal operation of third-party game console controllers and caused other brands of controllers to frequently disconnect. Second, licensing policies are not transparent. Sony has blocked competitors who want to sell PS4-compatible controllers from joining the OLP Partner Program (the only way for third parties to obtain official licenses). In the end, the agency imposed a penalty of 13,527,000 euros. While Sony claimed that the unlicensed controller would infringe its trademark and patent rights, the Authority rejected this claim, noting that the patents cited by Sony had expired/were about to expire at the time of the conduct.

Sony was fined 13.5 million euros by antitrust authorities in France for abusing its market dominance

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