Trade commission opens cases into Oracle, Intel

The Fair Trade Commission has launched an investigation into Oracle, the world’s leading e-business solutions provider, for a possible breach of antitrust regulations. Other major firms, including Intel Korea, Samsung Electronics Co. and Toyota Motor Corp., are currently under investigation by the nation’s antitrust regulator. The series of probes began with an investigation of Microsoft Korea, for which the anti-trust regulator plans to make a ruling as early as next month over complaints from competitors that the software firm violated fair trade rules. In Oracle’s case, the firm bundled database management software with other products, unfairly inhibiting its competitors, alleged Tmax Soft Co., a local information technology company. The commission is also conducting an investigation into Intel Korea to see if the firm is involved in any illegal activities, as its affiliate in Japan is facing similar charges there. The Japanese affiliate of Intel, the world’s biggest chipmaker, was ordered in April to end its practice of providing rebates to computer makers in exchange for the makers using only Intel processors. The Korean anti-trust watchdog wants to know if the U.S. computer chipmaker has made similar deals here. Samsung came under scrutiny after consumer groups reported that the built-in functions of the camcorder and MP3 player in V4400 model mobile phone do not meet the standards shown in the firm’s ads. As for Toyota, a local civic group argued that the company was making false claims about the engine output of its best-selling Lexus model. The group pointed out that the company recently reported to U.S. car officials that its LS430 has an output of 278 horsepower, not the initially reported 290 horsepower. The company advertises the same model in South Korea as having an output of 293 horsepower, the group said. by Seo Ji-eun