On April 29, the European Court of First Instance rendered a judgment with respect to the Cartel in the Graphite Electrodes sales and a fine was reduced to EUR 12,276,000 from EUR 24,500,000 which was imposed on Tokai Carbon by the European Commission in July, 2001.

Based on consultations with our legal counsel on a possible judgment by the European Court of Justice in the case of appeal and after making management considerations from the viewpoint of economic reasonableness, we have decided not to appeal this case to the Court of Justice.