South korea: South Korea's antitrust watchdog on Thursday decided to slap a combined fine of 2.3 billion won (US$1.52 million) on eight local distributors of SolidWorks software for price rigging.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) reported that these eight companies, responsible for distributing SolidWorks software-an industrial program developed by Dassault Systemes SolidWorks Corp. and utilized across sectors from machinery to medical devices-were involved in price fixing, which resulted in increased costs for buyers.

The FTC revealed that the distributors conducted face-to-face meetings and mobile chats to avoid competition and maximize their profits by setting minimum sales prices. This collusion was noted to have taken place from 2021 to 2024. Furthermore, the FTC indicated that these distributors, who dominate the entire domestic market, agreed not to target buyers already secured by competitors and to submit price quotes above specific levels when approached by such customers.

The violation significantly increased the software purchase prices for local companies, negatively impacting their industrial competitiveness. For instance, the FTC highlighted that the average price of SolidWorks CAD products surged by 53.8 percent in the third quarter of 2023, compared to the second quarter of 2021, before the price rigging took effect.

The related market size in South Korea was estimated at 54.7 billion won as of 2023, as reported by the FTC.