Acer and HP sue optical disc drive manufacturers

Acer and HP follow Dell in sueing nearly all optical disk drive makers for price fixing.  In May this year Dell sued optical disk drive (ODD) manufacturers  Benq, Hitachi, LG, Philips, Samsung, Sony and Toshiba for being part of a price fixing conspiracy.

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Back then Dell claimed it had paid too much for optical drives manufactured by the ODD manufacturers and their joint ventures.  Also PC manufacturers Acer and HP now claim to have become victim of the price fixing on CD, DVD and Blu-ray drives. Besides the price fixing, HP also sues the ODD manufacturers for trying to make it impossible for other companies to enter the ODD market by imposing high licensing costs on required technology.

The ODD manufacturers accounted for more than 90% of the market and used trade shows, symposia and other events to share confidential information and come to anti competitive agreements. Back then the ODD markt was highly competitive and as PC manufacturers like Acer, HP and Dell bought millions of drives, even a few cents made a difference on their profits.

The PC manufacturers claim to have paid too much for a period of at least six years (2004-2010), and are therefore seeking for unspecified damages and a court injunction against the companies. It's unclear whether also retail customers of the ODD manufacturers paid too much for their CD, DVD and Blu-ray drive.

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