Filed under: Apple Corporate, Apple Financial, Bad Apple, Apple
WA fines Apple $100k
How did Apple Legal miss this? Under a 1999 law, any company who sells service contracts (think AppleCare) in the state of Washington must register with the Office of the Insurance Commissioner. Apparently, Apple somehow neglected to do this between 2000 and 2004, incurring a fine of $100,000. First France, then Norway and Sweden, and now Washington?According to sources, this is not the first time Apple has neglected to follow the rules. It is widely known in the valley that Apple never tuned in its homework when it was in school, as it was too busy flirting with NeXT.
[via MacNN]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Fred said 7:33AM on 6-14-2006
turned* ;-)
maybe we could give them some ritalin? perhaps its time for statera! Who knows, they could sell the ritalin to microsoft who in turn would have to go to reehab for addiciton eventually!
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Edsel said 8:30AM on 6-14-2006
Having worked in state & local government for a number of years, I can guarantee you that it is impossible for any person or business entity to comply with 100% of government's laws and regulations. There are just too many compliance stipulations and they change daily. It's true; "the pen is mightier than the sword". I've seen multi-million contracts dissolve & business careers ruined because of some arcane government contract reference used to kill a deal or punish a contractor, often over some perceived political squabble.
Example; In my State, every local & state government contract must be executed with a pen manufactured by the blind otherwise the contract is invalid.
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MrBlank said 9:43AM on 6-14-2006
"Under a 1999 law, any company who sells service contracts (think AppleCare) in the state of Washington must register with the Office of the Insurance Commissioner."
What the hell does that do for the customer?
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Malfoy Roark said 12:20PM on 6-14-2006
re: 3
It protects the customer in a way. You can't have rogue companies selling insurance under the radar. There are a lot of laws and regulations relating to insurance. If they get called on it for some type of claim, the gov will probably want to know that the company was authorized to sell the insurance in the first place.
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Todd Rayer said 2:31PM on 6-14-2006
$100K is like pocket change to Apple. They probably spend more than that in toilet paper each year.
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cynyc said 3:24PM on 6-14-2006
You failed to mention that it was Apple Legal themselves who discovered the oversight and informed the state authorities...
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Rand said 6:53PM on 6-14-2006
While Apple discovered it, its really just Washingtons way of getting more money for their horribly misguided government.
WA may have no income tax, but they sure as heck tax everything else.
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Nate MC said 9:22PM on 6-14-2006
Same with Apple over gift certificates and iTMS credits, in WA they can't expire. I got my credits reinstated at the iTMS store after bringing this to the attention of the Attorney General and the iTMS store.
http://www.perkinscoie.com/content/ren/updates/mktg/040204.htm
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