Panasonic to appeal EU ruling on cathode-ray tube cartel

Panasonic Corp logos are seen at an electronics store in Tokyo November 15, 2012.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Panasonic Corp said on Friday that it would appeal a decision by the European Commission to fine it 252 million euros ($327 million) on charges of fixing prices for TV and computer monitor cathode-ray tubes along with five other companies.

The European Commission fined six firms, including Philips, LG Electronics Toshiba Corp Samsung SDI and French company Technicolor a total of 1.47 billion euros, its biggest antitrust penalty in history.

The Commission on Dec 5 said executives from the European and Asian companies had met until six years ago to fix prices and divide up markets for TV and computer monitor cathode-ray tubes, a business that has since been replaced by flat panel displays.

Panasonic in a statement said it "will seek a fair judgment".

Until now, the Commission's biggest antitrust penalty had been a 1.38 billion euro fine imposed on participants in a car glass cartel in 2008.

(Reporting by Tokyo Newsroom; Editing by Ron Popeski)