Nintendo's price fixing fine reduced by £27m

Nintendo's fine by the European Court for price fixing has been reduced from EUR 149.128 (GBP 132.767) to EUR 119.24 million (GBP 106.15m).

The fine was originally imposed on Nintendo and seven of is distribution partners in Europe, including John Menzies in the UK, for fixing prices on hardware and software between 1991 and 1998.

Nintendo said it would fight the decision last May, and the reduction has been granted following Nintendo and its distributors' co-operating with the court ruling.

"The Court recalled that the basic amount of the fine may be reduced where the undertaking has effectively cooperated in the proceedings," stated the court. "In the contested decision, the Commission took account of John Menzies’s cooperation, with the result that it reduced that undertaking’s fine by 40 per cent.

"The Court held that pursuant to the principle of equal treatment, since Nintendo produced the relevant documents at the same stage of the procedure and its cooperation must be regarded as comparable, it must benefit in this respect from the same level of reduction of fine."

A fine on Nintendo's distributor in Belgium and Luxembourg, CD Contact Data, was also cut from EUR 1 million to EUR 500,000.

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