Sony may sue European Commission over PlayStation 2
By Bloomberg News
November 2, 2000, 9:40 a.m. PT
URL: news.cnet.com
TOKYO--Sony may take legal action against the European Commission if it fails to change its tariff classification of the PlayStation 2 game console, according to reports.
Trade officials at the European Commission--the European Union's executive arm--have rated the PlayStation 2 as a video game player, which means Sony must pay an import duty of 2.2 percent on each unit, the Financial Times reported Thursday. The newspaper cited Ken Kutaragi, president of Sony Computer Entertainment.
The world's No. 1 game-console maker asserts that the PlayStation 2, which has a 128-bit processor, a DVD player and the potential to connect to the Internet, should be classified as a computer, the paper said. No duties are levied on computers imported into Europe, the newspaper said.
Last month, Britain's customs and excise department rejected Sony's application to designate the PlayStation 2 as a computer, the paper said. The consoles are due to go on sale in Europe later this month. |
