White & Case Secures Victory for Nintendo before the European Court of First Instance

Brussels, April 30, 2009 ... Global law firm White & Case LLP today won for its client Nintendo one of the largest fine reductions in the history of European competition law.

White & Case was acting on behalf of Nintendo in its challenge of a 2002 Commission decision. The Commission imposed on Nintendo the highest ever fine for a vertical infringement for having restricted parallel trade in video games and consoles in the 1990s. Today, the Court of First Instance (CFI) reduced the fine by €30 million. Such a reduction constitutes one of the largest reductions of a fine in European competition law history.

"It has been an honour to work on such a landmark case on behalf of such a distinguished client," commented partner Ian S. Forrester, QC, who was leading counsel with the team of lawyers in Europe and Japan from White & Case and other firms in arguing the case before the Court last May.

In addition to Forrester, the White & Case team included James Killick, Pascal Berghe and Mark Powell. Co-counsel were Hogan and Hartson (John Pheasant), Lovells (Ciara Kennedy) and Ohebashi in Osaka (Tadashi Ishikawa).

About White & Case
White & Case LLP is a leading global law firm with 36 offices in 25 countries. Among the first US-based law firms to establish a truly global presence, we provide counsel and representation in virtually every area of law that affects cross-border business. Our clients value both the breadth of our global network and depth of our US, English and local law capabilities in each of our regions and rely on us for their complex cross-border transactions, arbitration and litigation provided by our global practices. 

Contacts:
Ian Kitts
EMEA Media Relations & Corporate Communications Mgr, White & Case
+44 20 7532 2857


Erica Howard
Media Relations Executive, White & Case
+44 20 7532 2852