Nintendo appeal against price-fixing fine
by Steven Williamson
on 20 May 2008, 10:06
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In October 2002 the company and seven of its distributors were fined a record 149m euros (£92.1m) by the European Commission after it was discovered that they'd artificially inflated prices of video games between 1991 and 1998.
During that period, prices of Nintendo products were up to 65% higher in Germany or the Netherlands than in Britain.
Six years on and Nintendo still haven't coughed up, but has instead appealed once again at the European Court in Luxembourg yesterday where a lawyer for the company said, "The penalty was unfair, illegal, even shocking."
EU lawyer, Xavier Lewis, told the court: "The fine was not of a capricious nature, or based on wild estimates. This fine was for an infringement that was considered very serious."
How come these big companies get to contest their fines? We get fined in a court of law and we have no choice but to pay up. The European Commission ought to take inflation into account over the last six years and wack some extra on top.