Nintendo appeals EU fine.

"Nintendo Co., the maker of Pokemon and Mario Bros. video-game software, has asked Europe's highest court to reduce a 149 million-euro ($162 million) fine levied by European Commission regulators for fixing game prices.

Nintendo, which admitted in October to breaking European Union antitrust rules, filed an appeal on Jan. 17, according to information from the Court of First Instance.

The commission ruled in October that Nintendo worked with seven distributors between 1991 and 1998 to block sales between European countries and keep prices higher. The distributors, led by John Menzies Plc and Itochu Corp., were fined a total of 19 million euros.

Nintendo's fine was the fourth-biggest ever imposed by European antitrust enforcers against a single company. The commission levied 1.1 billion euros in fines for breaching antitrust rules last year, after imposing almost 2 billion euros in fines in 10 decisions involving 56 companies in 2001 as part of its crackdown on cartels.

A spokeswoman for Nintendo confirmed the company was appealing the size of the penalty but couldn't provide further details. A statement issued by the company last October suggested it didn't expect to be fined more than 50 million euros.

In the Nintendo case, John Menzies was fined 9 million euros and Itochu 4.5 million euros. The commission imposed smaller fines on Linea GIG SpA, Concentra L.DA, Bergsala AB, Nortec SA and CD- Contact Data GmbH. Itochu, Linea GIG and CD-Contact Data have also lodged appeals, court records show.

The commission, the 15-nation EU's regulatory arm, can fine companies accused of operating a cartel as much as 10 percent of their annual sales. It typically opts for less. The largest fine was 462 million euros levied against Hoffman-la Roche AG in 2001 for fixing the price of vitamins."

[ Source: Gamerfeed ]