Apple fined $1.2 million for misleading customers in Italy

The nearly $1.2 million (900,000 euro) that Apple was fined in Italy seem a small fee to pay when compared to Cupertino’s huge cash pile, but the allegations that the Italian Antitrust Authority put forward were pretty serious. Apple was ruled to be misleading customers telling them only about its own one-year warranty and offering AppleCare for the second year of service, while under Italian law companies are obliged to provide two years of warranty for their products.

The fee the agency imposed breaks down to 400,000 euro for not disclosing the legally-required two-year warranty and to additional 500,000 euro for selling AppleCare coverage which overlaps with the required second year of warranty.

Apple also agreed to alter its "AppleCare Protection Plan" in Italy in the next 90 days.

At the same time, Apple is undergoing investigation about a possible price-fixing deal with e-book publishers and a huge patent legal battle with Samsung.

source: Reuters