France: Uber and 2 of its executives are convicted and fined

French court has convicted and fined Uber and two of its executives for deceptive commercial practices and illegal business activity over its lowest-cost ride service.

It’s the latest legal tangle for the app-based business, which has faced protests from taxi unions and regulators around the world, reflecting larger tensions between long-regulated industries and the borderless, online economy.

The court fined the San Francisco-based company about $900,000, regional Uber executive Pierre-Dimitry Gore-Coty about $34,000, and Uber’s France general manager Thibaud Simphal $23,000. Half of all the fines were suspended.

The court did not order prison terms, and it rejected a prosecutor’s request that the two executives be barred from running any company for five years.
And the fines were much lower than the more than $100 million in damages that traditional taxi services had sought.

Traditional taxi services accused the low-cost UberPop service of unfair competition because it uses nonprofessional drivers. UberPop is now banned in France, but Uber still operates a service with professional drivers.

Full Content: LA Times

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