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Information Technology

Nintendo fights huge EU fine over SNES

By Justin Mann, TechSpot.com
Published: May 21, 2008, 4:00 PM EST

Unless you're a member of the retro-gaming community, you probably never think about the SNES anymore. And yet, Nintendo is battling the EU over that very console all the way into 2008, following a hefty fine the EU laid down 6 years ago. In 2002, the EU accused Nintendo of price-fixing the SNES for several years in the 1990s, and sought to penalize them for their actions. They handed them a fine of 149.1 million Euros, a fine rivaled by very few others.

The EU asserts the fine was fair, whereas Nintendo claims it was not only unfair, but outright illegal. As a result, Nintendo is refusing to pay the draconian fine. That's quite a while to wait to fight back, but is still interesting.

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User Comments (6)

Post a comment
fullmetalvegan
on May 21, 2008
9:40 PM
lol - the EU love to fine everyone, geez. =P

fada
on May 22, 2008
2:28 PM
Originally posted by fullmetalvegan:
quote:
lol - the EU love to fine everyone, geez. =P

Ye americans are to used to companies doing whatever they want and getting away with it, wether they be anti-competitive or harmful to the consumer, the E.U. is fineing someone for breaking the law- it's as simple as that!

OUTLAWXXX
on May 25, 2008
9:54 PM
Honestly the EU has got the tightest butt holes in the WORLD!!! That entire place is annoying as ****, They cry all day when most other companies out compete them and I don't care if you think they protecting you peeps over their from big bad business, theres a lot more worse problems out there, Ya we hate corruption when it reaches a point but when you complain for ****** shit like "Microsoft bundles windows media player with OS, OMG x100000!" Then your just a bunch of whining losers... get over it EU

9Nails
on May 26, 2008
7:35 PM
Was the SNES making profit on console system sales or were they using todays business model where loss on system sales is recovered through software sales?

I wonder if Apple, Bose and other known price fixers are targeted?

wyatt963
on May 30, 2008
1:35 PM
All of the game consoles are price fixed. Has any one seen the xbox 360, PS3, or the Wi, for a price below the suggested retail, and pretty much goes for any newly released games as well. This has to be about the only segment of the consumer market, where you can't shop around for a better price, or sale

TimeParadoX
on June 6, 2008
8:01 PM
This is a useless fine, Seeing how you can not find a SNES ANYWHERE in stores except online. Who cares if they price fixed it in the 90s, that was along time ago. :I

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