Aussie watchdog ACCC sues Fuji Xerox over alleged unfair contract terms

513

Australian government agency, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has sued Japanese and American joint venture Fuji Xerox over apparent unfair small business contract terms. Bringing the matter to Federal Court, the ACCC alleges that 9 of standard form small business contacts of Fuji Xerox has 173 unfair contracts terms which include excessive exit fees, automatic renewal terms and unilateral price increases. All of these unfair terms of contract have been used by the joint venture since October 2018 at least.

ACCC Deputy Chair on Fuji Xerox

Mick Keogh, ACCC Deputy Chairman said they have received numerous complaints from various small businesses alleging that some of Fuji’s contract terms have caused them remarkable financial harm.

Keogh adds that few of the “unilateral variation terms” allow Fuji Xerox to modify their contracts by creating new obligations and rights, such as including increasing prices without giving any intimation to its customers or giving any corresponding right to reject or negotiate.

The Australian regulator will argue that Fuji’s unfair terms in the contracts caused significant imbalance in the obligations and rights of Fuji Xerox and the small businesses they contract with.

SEE ALSO: Accenture and ServiceNow launch digital transformation group

More on ACCC’s claims

The ACCC seeks declarations that the terms are void and unfair along with an injunction to prevent Fuji from relying on modifiable terms in the current or future contracts that contain those terms. The agency also sought a compliance program, an order for a corrective notice and costs. 

At the beginning of the year, the joining venture Fuji Xerox announced a rebrand saying it would like to be called “Fujifilm Business Innovation” as of 1st April 2021. It said this decision has been taken as it wanted to focus on its existing businesses along with expanding into new areas of  business including Artificial Intelligence (AI), cloud and the Internet of Things (IoT).

Fuji Xerox, a.k.a. FXA says it has been cooperating with the investigation of the ACCC and has proposed various contract changes to address the raised concerns. FXA added it is disappointed that the regulator has decided to begin proceedings against it, which Fuji will defend. FXA is also sending correspondence to its customers about how this might impact them and upcoming steps.

Image Courtesy: Freepik Business photo created by freepik – www.freepik.com 

SEE ALSO: Security & networking company Cato Networks announces A/NZ expansion

For more updates and latest tech news, keep reading iTMunch

Previous articleWestpac ditches 10% stake in Zip post signing deal with rival Afterpay
Next articleDeputy Chair of ASIC, Daniel Crennan resigns after expenses scandal
Riddhi Jain is a technology content writer. She is based in India and has been working as a content writer since 2018. Riddhi has been writing content in the tech domain since May 2020 and can’t get enough of it. Riddhi has pursued most of her education from her hometown, Indore. She has graduated as a Bachelor of Business Administration and discovered her love for writing blogs while pursuing an internship during college. Once she discovered her love for writing, she went on to improve this skill set (and hasn’t stopped since).
Read More