Nintendo faces fines in Europe

We have received word that Nintendo is facing fines from the European Union body charged with ensuring fair trade between member states, following the firm’s heavy-handed intervention into the practice of cross-border trading.

Nintendo has been an avid and aggressive protector of its per-region intellectual property rights, forcing several UK retailers to withdraw any product lines that were not officially and directly released into the country.

The practice of importing games from outside of Europe has seen some long-established retailers dragged through the courts with one in particular complaining, off the record, of being “being bullied by a firm that has more money that it does legal riotousness.”

Although the details of the EU filing have not yet been released, it is known that Nintendo Europe has sought to prevent all cross-border trading throughout the continent, in order to keep prices as high as possible per region. This may prove folly, as the Xbox, now outselling the GameCube in Europe and powered by a string of incredible deals and price-cuts, proves too tempting for the gaming consumer.

We’ll bring you more as the details unfold.