The Taiwan Fair Trade Commission yesterday announced that it has imposed monetary penalties on Philips, Sony and Taiyo Yuden for violating fair trade rules and monopolizing the recordable media market. Philips was fined NT$3.5 million by the commission, while Sony received a fine of NT$1 million and Japan’s Taiyo Yuden was fined NT$500,000, the FTC said in a statement.

The story began in 2001 when the FTC found that the companies had violated fair trade rules and formed a monopoly. The lawsuit dragged on for years and the commission announced the penalties yesterday after a judgment by the High Court.

FTC said that the Philips had rejected an FTC request to change the method of calulating the roylaty fees, during the 1988-1990 period. At that time, with the demand for CD-R manufacturing output to be very high, the Taiwanese manufacturers of CD-R had requested to lower royalties on CD-R technology, the FTC said.

The companies had been authorized to negotiate for the CD-R technology licensing agreements but had failed to fully disclose information such as the expiry date of royalties and the use of technology and related content, the commission said.