Japanese company Sanrio, which owns the Hello Kitty franchise, was fined €6.2 million (US$6.94 million) by EU antitrust regulators on Tuesday, July 9, for preventing cross-border sales of its products in Europe.
The European Commission, which started an investigation into the company and several others two years ago, stated that Sanrio’s non-exclusive licensing agreements breached EU antitrust rules. The anti-competitive practices occurred from January 2008 to December 2018.
These included direct measures restricting out-of-territory sales by licensees and measures such as audits and not renewing contracts to encourage compliance with the curbs.
Full Content: Reuters
Want more news? Subscribe to CPI’s free daily newsletter for more headlines and updates on antitrust developments around the world.
THIS ARTICLE IS NOT AVAILABLE FOR IP ADDRESS 216.73.216.190
Please verify email or join us
to access premium content!
