A European court Thursday lowered a fine levied against Japanese video game maker Nintendo (7974.OK) for preventing parallel trade in its computer gaming consoles and game cartridges.

The fine, imposed by the European Commission in 2002, was reduced to EUR119 million from EUR149 million.

The total fine for Nintendo and its distributors had been EUR167.8 million, but only three companies, Nintendo, Belgium's CD-Contact Data GmbH and Japan's Itochu Corp. (8001.TO), appealed their fines.

Parallel trade is the practice of trading goods from lower-cost countries into companies which already have a higher-priced supply from the manufacturer.

The commission, Europe's antitrust agency, fined Nintendo, along with seven of its European distributors for anticompetitive behaviour, after it found they had taken part in an agreement aimed at keeping lower-priced U.K. products from being sold elsewhere in the European Union between 1991 and 1998.

In 1996, for example, Nintendo products were up to 65% cheaper in the U.K. than they were in the Netherlands or Germany.

The seven distributors are U.K.-based John Menzies PLC (MNZS.LN); Portugal's Concentra - Produtos para crianças S.A. (Portugal); Italy's Linea GIG. SpA.; Sweden's Bergsala AB; Itochu Hellas, the Greek subsidiary of the Itochu, Greece's Nortec A.E. and CD-Contact.

Nintendo faced the biggest fine, for its role in setting up and keeping the arrangement going, even when it knew the commission was investigating.

The Court of First Instance ruled that Nintendo should gain the same level of reduction as John Menzies did for cooperating as it produced documents at the same stage of the procedure.

The CFI also reduced CD-Contact's fine to EUR500,000 from EUR1 million but upheld the Itochu's fine at EUR4.5 million.

-By Mike Gordon, Dow Jones Newswires; +352 691 180 766; mgordon.dowjones@gmail.com