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Mobile phone collusion overview:
- Who: Phone operators EE Ltd., Vodafone Ltd. and Telefonica UK Ltd. were cleared of accusations in a lawsuit that the companies broke competition laws to collude to stop selling phones to Phones 4u, Law360 reported.
- Why: Phones 4u blames the companies that stopped selling it phones in 2014 for going out of business but Judge Peter Roth determined there was not sufficient evidence showing the companies conducted an unlawful conspiracy or broke competition law, the website reported.
- Where: The mobile phone collusion case was heard in London High Court.
A lawsuit claiming phone operators EE Ltd., Vodafone Ltd. and Telefonica UK Ltd. conducted an unlawful conspiracy to stop selling phones to third-party provider Phones 4u in 2014 was dismissed in London High Court, Law360 reported.
Judge Peter Roth wrote a 200-page decision outlining his opinion, arguing the companies did not violate competition law and EE did not separately breach its contract with Phones 4u, the website reported.
Roth wrote that a merger between Carphone Warehouse and Dixons was a game changer that led EE to examine its strategy moving forward, Law360 wrote.
“This unexpected development was seen as an opportunity to change the pattern of retail distribution in the UK, which had been a strategic goal of EE and was in particular urged by the shareholders,” Judge Roth wrote, per Law360.
O2 UK and EE leaders met, but didn’t come to agreement on strategy, judge wrote
Roth found that O2 UK chief executive Ronan Dunne and EE leader Olaf Swantee attempted to meet to discuss the decision at a London hotel, but Swantee reportedly did not respond positively to the approach, according to Law360.
The ruling did say the leaders did not follow their corporate rules in the details surrounding the meeting, failing to set out topics to discuss beforehand or written follow-up of what was discussed after the meeting.
“Nonetheless, given the fact that Swantee remained passive during this part of the discussion, I do not see that Dunne could possibly have regarded that as indicating that EE would support O2 if it exited from an indirect retailer in general, or from Phones 4u in particular,” Roth wrote, per Law360.
The UK Competition Appeal Tribunal OK’d UK consumer group Which? to pursue a legal claim demanding Qualcomm cough up more than £482M to compensate millions of smartphone buyers in the UK.
Have you purchased a phone from a third-party company like Phones 4u? Let us know in the comments.
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