An Italian court recently went ahead and issued a ban for uber, ironically citing unfair competition in the market.
Following the order, the company will not be allowed to have its app activated in the country. The ruling comes as a result from a lawsuit that was launched collectively by Italian taxi groups who are arguing that Uber operations constituted an unfair competition.
Taxi drivers around the world have resulted to engaging in harassment, violence, and more, in trying to prevent competition from coming to the market. Now they are using the state to try and protect their monopoly within the industry from competition that might come from others.
Uber has had a long and uphill battle in numerous jurisdictions around the world, with officials in many countries looking to try and hinder its success and prevent people from voluntarily choosing to use this ride-share service. Uber has taken to challenging the critics and funneling millions into various legal battles in order to defend itself. They are still a prominent service provider in the ride-sharing space despite the taxi drivers who want to shut them down.
Italian taxi drivers have been dedicated in launching coordinated national strikes, pushing for new rules and regulations to protect their already established monopoly within the industry, and they've been reluctant to try and negotiate with Uber representatives in order to try and find some middle ground.
Taxi licenses can cost up to 200,000 euros and banning competition like Uber doesn't help consumers because it only limits the options for them in the marketplace. Uber is said to have 10 days after this recent ruling in Italy, in order to stop advertising and stop operations within the country.
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Entrepreneur
Sources:
http://fortune.com/2017/04/08/uber-italian-court/
@doitvoluntarily/california-dmv-tells-uber-to-shut-down-its-self-driving-car-program-in-san-francisco
http://www.theverge.com/2017/4/7/15226400/uber-italy-ban-court-ruling
https://www.engadget.com/2017/04/07/uber-banned-in-italy/
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/288346