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LAWSUITS NEWS & LEGAL INFORMATION

Optical Drive Makers Agree $37M Settlement in Price-Fixing Class Action Lawsuit


This is a settlement for the Antitrust lawsuit.

Santa Clara, CA: A proposed $37 million settlement has been filed in an antitrust class action alleging multiple electronics makers, colluded to fix prices of optical disc drives, which read or write data on CDs, DVDs and Blu-rays and are found in computers, video game consoles and other devices.

The settlement, if approved, would end the claims of a class of direct purchasers claims against seven defendant corporations, which includes Sony Corp., Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and Koninklijke Philips Electronics NV, BenQ Corp., Pioneer Electronics Inc., Quanta Storage Inc., and TEAC Corp.

According to court documents, the direct purchasers have asked California' Northern District to preliminarily approve each settlement, provisionally certify settlement classes, approve the form and manner of notice to the class, appoint class counsel, approve a plan of allocation, and establish a schedule for final approval and for class counsel' motion for attorneys' fees and costs.

The fairness of the settlement must be established in a court hearing. If approved, QSI will pay $400,000, BenQ $875,000, TEAC $1.325 million, Pioneer $4.2 million, and Sony, Toshiba and Philips will pay $6 million, $9.2 million and $15 million, respectively.

The proposed settlement class includes all individuals and entities who purchased one or more optical disk drives in the US directly from the defendants or any of their subsidiaries or affiliates between January 1, 2004 and January 1, 2010.

Court documents reveal that the court previously approved a $26 million settlement with the direct class of purchased and defendants Hitachi-LG Data Storage Inc. and related entities, a $5.75 million settlement they reached with Panasonic Corp. and a $6.15 million settlement with NEC Corp.

The case is In re: Optical Disk Drive Products Antitrust Litigation, case number 3:10-md-02143, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

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Published on Nov-4-15


READER COMMENTS

Posted by

on
Keep me informed on this .

Posted by

on
I have bought DVDs and Sony products.
To include VHS , and game console for my son.
Tv, etc

Posted by

on
I've bought MANY optical drives. The majority being LG over the years and having paid as much as $99 for just one. And can provide reciepts of all purchases dating as far back as 2003, so I'd like to know if this would effect me in anyway and if so what would be the time frame of purchases.

Posted by

on
I bought one and it quit working

Posted by

on
What about Indirect purchasers????

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