Uber convicted, fined in French trial over taxi practices

PARIS (AP) — A 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 800,000 euros ($907,000), regional Uber executive Pierre-Dimitry Gore-Coty 30,000 euros, and Uber's France general manager Thibaud Simphal 20,000 euros. Half of all the fines were suspended.

The court did not hand prison terms, and 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 100 million euros in damages that traditional taxi services had sought.

They accused the low-cost UberPop service of unfair competition because it uses non-professional drivers. UberPop is now banned in France but Uber still operates a service with professional drivers.

It was the first trial for Uber managers in France.