Taipei City Government urges Apple Inc. and Google Inc. to make changes in return policies for their cell phone software programs within a limited timeframe
Taipei City Government Law and Regulations Committee (June 3rd ) called a press conference today, issuing warnings to consumers, and demanded in a letter to Apple (Asia division) and Google International LLC. (Taiwan division) to modify their terms of service (Apple Store and the Android Market) for cell phone software within fifteen days. The press conference called an establishment of a refund mechanism to safeguard consumer interests. Taipei City Government Regulations Committee chairman, Ching-Yuan Yeh, pointed out that if Apple and Google do not complied with the order; each of the companies would be fined up to NT$1.5 million in the violation of the law.“With the popularity of smart phones, more and more consumers rely on Apple Store and Android Market to download a variety of mobile applications with a fee,” Chairman Yeh said. However, there apparently are some shady sellers use the software trading platform to sell mobile phone application software with flaws, and that violates the interests of consumers. “Based on the provisions of the Consumer Protection Act, mobile phone users are entitled to a seven-day period to test-use the software downloaded to their phones, and they can ask for a refund any time during this period,” Chairman Yeh added. Taipei City Government Consumer Protection officials discovered that the terms of service of Apple Store and Android Market do not have similar measures to issue refund to their customers. This is clearly a violation of the Consumer Protection Act. The officials pressed Apple (Asia division) and Google (Taiwan division) to respond to the issue.Chairman Yeh stressed that “If Apple and Google do not resolve their software problems in time, Taipei City Government can fine both companies an amount ranging from NT$6 to $1.5 million (Article 58 Consumer Protection Law). Chairman Yeh also pointed out that “If there is any suspected flaw software found in the investigation, Taipei City Government can demand the software seller to stop the sale of software,” according to Consumer Protection Law Article 36. In another word, the city officials can force the sellers to take down their software from their websites. If the software sellers do not conform to the laws, the city officials can penalize them for breaking the law (Article 58 of Consumer Protection Law). “When consumers go out and buy smart phones, they not only focus on the phones themselves and the convenience of the hardware, but also the network platform for smart phones. Consumers are really looking into software applications now because they have the needs to use them,” explained Chairman Yeh. For example, games such as Angry Bird and other games software also has been popular and even gets reported on the National Geographic magazine cover. However, Apple Store and the Android Market indicate in their terms of service that they are not responsible for the distribution of the software downloaded on their phones. They cannot do anything about the third-party software in which do not developed by their companies.“This is no doubt an irresponsible business practices,” said Chairman Yeh. He then added that “Companies cannot just care about the downloading features in their smart phones and collect fees from the downloading the applications but do not bear any relevant responsibility for flaw software programs.”Betty Chen, the Director of Consumer Protection of Taipei City Government, explained in a statement, saying that “In order to create a fair online-consuming environment on the internet, it is important to ensure that the interests of consumers are protected. The city has required Yahoo!, PCHome as well as other online shopping platform to make changes on their Terms of Service to protect the right for a free trial of the software downloaded.”Chairman Yeh said that “Apple and Google are two leading technology companies in the world, and they should not have technical difficulties in dealing with this issue.” He stressed, “Apple Store and the Android Market do not simply lost control to the software once the (third-party) software has been downloaded to the phones.” Using iPhone as an example, although its downloaded software can only be used on five hardware, it is still regularly checked by Apple, and it even notifies the users for any updates. The implementation of a seven-day trial use is not therefore not really a technical difficulty. “If any consumer finds any problems with the downloaded software, the consumer should call 1999 or 1950 to file a complaint to the customer service center in Taipei City Government. The government would fully safeguard the interests of consumers,” Director Chen added.
Hit:
3533
Updated:
2011-06-03 18:40
Source:
Law and Regulation Commission of Taipei City Government
