|
The Fair Trade Commission has taken sanctions against NHN, which runs Korea¡¯s largest portal site, Naver, for abusing its monopoly. It is the first time that a web portal was disciplined by the FTC for violating antitrust laws. In a meeting on Wednesday, the Commission decided NHN, using its dominant position in the market, interfered with fair competition in the online multimedia market, and ordered corrective action.
NHN was charged for blocking advertising of video content for users who accessed sites through Naver.com. From May 2006 to March 2007, NHN signed a contract with nine providers of so-called user-created content including Pandora TV, which stated that the providers cannot list commercials on the video clips. This ¡°significantly limited the revenue of the video providers, and constrained fair competition in the video multimedia market,¡± the FTC said.
However, since the practice served the greater convenience of customers and NHN voluntarily corrected its action after June 2007, the FTC said it would not fine the company. However, the FTC imposed a W227 million (US$1=W1,048) fine for offering unfair profits to two of its affiliates and ordered the company to redress the problem.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
|
