A U.S. class action charges Sony, Samsung, Toshiba, Hitachi, LG Technology and Philips, manufacturers of optical disc drives used in CD, DVD and Blu-ray players of price-fixing.

In this landmark case filed in the U.S. District Court in California in April 2010, consumers accuse the tech industry of allegedly conspiring to manipulate prices of optical disc drives (ODD) found in most computers, entertainment systems and gaming consoles in the United States.

Owners of these popular devices are encouraged by Hagens Berman attorneys to join the civil case before 5 August 2010. A criminal investigation by the Department of Justice is also under way. It believes hardware manufacturers of disc drives and CD/DVD players conducted anti-competitive business practices to create artificially high prices for products featuring these components and eliminated new market competitors.

The strong collaboration between ODD industry leaders caused potential and emerging competitors to refrain from entering the ODD market, the lawsuit states. Furthermore, the lawsuit claims that consumers were forced to pay inflated prices for ODD products.

Story filed 28.06.10