The European Commission has fined Nike €12.5 million ($14.1 million) after an antitrust investigation found that it banned traders from selling licensed merchandise to countries within the European Economic Area (EEA). In a statement yesterday, March 25, the commission said the sportswear brand breached European Union competition rules by imposing a number of measures to restrict out-of-territory- sales by licensees. This included explicitly prohibiting these sales as well as imposing double royalties for out-of-territory-sales. The commission said Nike also enforced indirect measures to implement the restrictions. This was done by threatening licensees with termination of their contract if they sold out-of-territory and refusing to supply "official product" holograms if it suspected that the sales could be going towards other territories in the EEA.

Source: www.worldipreview.com