The Competition Tribunal dismissed a lawsuit by Sociedad Comercial Electrocenter Ltda. (“Electrocenter”) against Nokia Chile S.A. (“Nokia Chile”), for alleged infractions to article 3 of D.L. 211, consisting of: (i) resale price fixing, (ii) imposition of abusive clauses in all business relations established by Nokia Chile in the country, (iii) termination of a distribution contract in an ill-timed and unilateral fashion, in bad faith and with no justification, (iv) refusal to honor post sales warranty, and (v) irruption into Electrocenter’s contractual relationships with mobile telephony and retail companies, in order to block them from reaching the market with lower prices.
The Tribunal determined that the relevant market comprised mobile telephony terminals and their accessories, manufactured abroad and sold in Chile, both via mobile telephony companies and through authorized distributors. The Tribunal could not confirm nor deny Nokia’s eventual dominant position in the market, therefore all the conducts described in the lawsuit were analyzed.
The Tribunal dismissed the price fixing and imposition of abusive clauses accusations, because the plaintiff did not how these conducts would be anticompetitive –even if they had been proved, which they were not-. Likewise, regarding the accusation of wrongful termination of the contract by Nokia Chile, the Tribunal stated that it is not its duty to resolve whether the ending of the legal link was unilateral, ill-timed and in bad faith, or if it had legal cause, because that is the subject matter of a different tribunal. However, the Tribunal stated that the eventual effects of that contract termination have to be studied in this magistracy, and resolved that no anticompetitive effects were observed, so this accusation was also dismissed. Regarding the refusal to honor post-sales warranty accusation, the Tribunal stated that the conduct was not proven, disregarding that accusation. Lastly, regarding the alleged defendant’s irruption into the plaintiff’s contractual relationships, the Tribunal considered that the accused actions configured conducts against good faith and good business practices. However, it was not proven that those conducts had the objective of reaching, maintaining or augmenting a dominant position of Nokia Chile in the market, therefore that accusation was rejected as well.