Guitar-maker Fender has been fined 4.5 million pounds ($6 million) in Britain after it admitted breaking competition law by preventing retailers from discounting online prices for its instruments, which can run into thousands of pounds.
Between 2013 and 2018, the company, founded around 70 years ago in southern California by Leo Fender, required its guitars be sold at or above a minimum price in Britain, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said on Wednesday.
This kind of practice means that when customers shop around, they find retailers tend to be selling the same products for roughly the same price, the regulator said, leading it to impose its biggest such fine yet.
Aside from its eponymous brand, Fender Musical Instruments Corporation’s line-up also includes Squier, Gretsch, Jackson, Charvel and EVH.
Featured News
Public Interest Groups Push for Rehearing on FCC Net Neutrality Case
Feb 18, 2025 by
CPI
Australian Regulator Backs Virgin Australia-Qatar Airways Alliance
Feb 18, 2025 by
CPI
EU Scales Back AI Regulations to Compete with US in Global Tech Race
Feb 18, 2025 by
CPI
Democratic Lawmakers Raise Concerns Over Musk’s Task Force and Taxpayer Data Security
Feb 18, 2025 by
CPI
UK’s CMA Provisionally Approves Poultry Feed Merger
Feb 18, 2025 by
CPI
Antitrust Mix by CPI
Antitrust Chronicle® – International Criminal Enforcement
Jan 23, 2025 by
CPI
The Antitrust Division’s Recent Work to Combat International Cartels
Jan 23, 2025 by
Emma Burnham & Benjamin Christenson
Information Sharing: The New Frontier of U.S. Antitrust Enforcement
Jan 23, 2025 by
Brian P. Quinn, Casey Kovarik & Michael Tubach
The Key Role of Guidelines on Exchanges of Information Among Competitors and the Divergent Transatlantic Paths
Jan 23, 2025 by
Rosa Abrantes-Metz & Albert Metz
Leniency, Whistleblowers, and Compliance
Jan 23, 2025 by
Richard Powers, Tara O’Malley & Cory Gordon