China's antitrust regulators have been on a tear lately.
Last year the State Administration for Industry and Commerce
("SAIC") began its investigation of Qualcomm for
allegedly violating China's 2008 Anti-Monopoly Law. SAIC
recently released a statement indicating that this investigation is
coming to an end, but Qualcomm may be facing a fine of over $1
billion. Then, in July of this year, SAIC raided offices of
Microsoft and its partner Accenture PLC throughout China in
connection with an investigation into Microsoft's alleged
anti-competitive bundling of software. And during the last month
alone, the National Development and Reform Commission
("NDRC") accused Chrysler, Mercedes Benz, Volkswagen, and
a dozen Japanese auto parts makers of various violations of the
Anti-Monopoly law in connection with their pricing of auto parts.
So far, Chrysler and Volkswagen have been fined a combined
$46 million, and the Japanese auto parts makers saw a record $200
million fine.
