Apple revises unfair service agreement with local repair businesses

Apple Korea Inc., the local unit of the U.S. tech giant, has revised its unfair business agreement with local maintenance service firms for the first time in the world, the South Korean antitrust watchdog said Thursday.

Apple has designated six local repair firms including Ubase Inc. and Dongbu Daewoo Electronics Service Corp. as its authorized repair service providers that can do business under the worldwide Apple Authorized Service Agreement.

The previous agreement let the U.S. firm terminate contracts with local suppliers without prior notification and take no responsibility for the losses incurred by Apple's withdrawal.

It also banned the local firms from translating the agreement into Korean, forcing them to accept the English version only.

The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) said Apple has changed such unfair clauses of the agreement upon its request after months of negotiation.

It is first time that the U.S. firm has made a revision of the business contract, the FTC said.

"Apple has fully cooperated with the FTC in revising the terms for the first time in the world as the company officials visited South Korea last month to have talks with us," said the watchdog.

"We expect that the revision will help protect the interests of South Korean repair service firms and consumers and build fair business order in the country." (Yonhap)