Nintendo battles EU punishment

Nintendo has told a European Union court that a €149.1 million ($232 million) fine handed to them by EU regulators for price fixing in 2002 was unjustified.

The European Commission fined Nintendo and seven distributors a total of €167.8 million for colluding between 1991 and 1998 to raise prices of games and consoles.

However, according to Bloomberg, Nintendo contends the European Commission’s calculation of the fine was irrational and discriminatory.

The EU penalty was the largest ever at the time that a company received for colluding with distributors, Nintendo said.

"The penalty was unfair, illegal, even shocking," Ian Forrester, a lawyer for Nintendo, told the European Court of First Instance in Luxembourg today. "This remains one of the biggest single fines in EU competition law."

"The fine was not of a capricious nature, or based on wild estimates," Xavier Lewis, a lawyer for the Commission, told the court. "This fine was for an infringement that was considered very serious."