Toshiba, Sony, Samsung Electronics lose court fight against EU cartel fine

Toshiba, Sony and Samsung Electronics on Thursday lost their court fight against an EU cartel fine levied seven years ago for colluding in procurement tenders for optical disc drives. 

The European Commission in 2015 fined five firms 116 million euros ($120.5 million), with the biggest fine of 41.3 million euros going to Toshiba Samsung Storage Technology, a joint venture of Toshiba and Samsung Electronics. Hitachi-LG Data Storage was fined 37 million euros. 

Other sanctioned were Sony; Sony Optiarc, which is a joint venture between Sony and NEC; and Quanta Storage. 

Philips avoided a fine as it alerted the cartel to the EU competition enforcer.