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DRAM Price Fixing Investigations

Posted by timothy on from the at-least-it's-still-cheap dept.

An anonymous reader writes "A few days ago after FTC antitrust charges against Rambus were thrown out, the U.S. Department of Justice and EU have both begun probes against the 4 largest memory makers in accusation of price fixing during 2001/2002. News.com.com has information regarding the pending EU investigation. Anandtech and Silcon.com both have primers on the U.S. investigation. If you thought you paid too much for RAM in 2002, chances are you may have been more right than you originally thought."

8 of 246 comments (clear)

  1. I need some clarification... by numbski · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I don't like paying high prices any more than anyone else, however I have to wonder...

    Let's say I have a monopoly on widgets, or myself and my compeptitors agree to keep the price of widgets artificially high.

    At what point are we no longer allowed to sell our widgets at whatever price we see fit? When do we cross over into breaking the law for price fixing?

    --

    Karma: Chameleon (mostly due to the fact that you come and go).

    1. Re:I need some clarification... by numbski · · Score: 4, Interesting

      So I can go sue Gillette for price fixing on razor blade refills?

      Or the printer manufacturers for price fixing on toner cartriges?

      You see what I'm getting at? When is it illegal?

      --

      Karma: Chameleon (mostly due to the fact that you come and go).

  2. Uhh...no by Pingular · · Score: 5, Interesting

    If you thought you paid too much for RAM in 2002
    I paid 70 for a stick of 512mb in 2002. That may be expensive compared to now, but with my first 486 I paid the same price for a 4mb stick. Unless you own a server farm, what's 10 per half a gig or ram?

    --

    When anger rises, think of the consequences.
    Confucius (551 BC - 479 BC)
  3. Price fixing lawsuits are hard to try..... by ghettoboy22 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Saving my mod points....

    While I'm willing to give any company the benefit of the doubt, it does seem rather suspicious that Micron chose to sell off their PC arm and focus instead on, the implied, more lucrative memory manufacturing business line. Circumstantial yes, but it never made sense why Micron would sell of a business line that was the only good alternative to Dell.

    That being said, it's really hard for the DoJ to prove a conspiracy existed to fix prices of memory between manufactures. IANAL, however from my understanding basically a "smoking gun" would be the only way a conviction could be had - some emails between companies discussing price or marketing strategies perhaps. Other than that, it's almost impossible to get a price-fixing case with a favorable outcome for the prosecution.

  4. Toner and Ink by nycsubway · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I'd like to see the price of toner and ink cartridges go down. Those things seem so simple, I wonder why they are so expensive. A memory chip seems slightly more expensive to produce than an ink cartridge. Yet the prices are very similar.

    --
    http://github.com/gbook/nidb
  5. Market fixes itself in this case by Brahmastra · · Score: 5, Interesting
    In April 2002, Michael Dell said that his company, PC maker Dell, began to buy memory from second-tier manufacturers to avoid cartel-like behavior of some memory makers. Why is price fixing by a few manufacturers a concern when alternate vendors are available? It's a problem only if the price fixers are the only vendors. The market is fixing itself. If Dell buys from the 2nd tier vendors, the price fixers have to ultimately lower their prices.
  6. Too Bad About Rambus by stevesliva · · Score: 5, Interesting
    I thought the FTC complaint against Rambus would have set a great precident. Basically Rambus participated in standards development for DRAM technology and ensured that the standards would include technology infringing on Rambus patents without disclosing those patents. Rambus then withdrew and began suing every DRAM maker in sight.

    SCO is doing just about the same thing as Rambus, but with much less success. Participate in Linux/UNIX standards groups, but later claim to own those standards and begin suing everyone.

    --
    Who do you get to be an expert to tell you something's not obvious? The least insightful person you can find? -J Roberts
  7. so, class action lawsuit soon by fireduck · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Class action lawsuits are becoming my new favorite pasttime. Consider:

    In the past month, apparently I've been involved in at least 3 class action lawsuits. Both my wife and I got checks for $13.86 from connecticut's part in suing the record labels over overpriced CDs. Both of us have gotten paperwork regarding whatever claims are against Microsoft and software purchased in the late 90s (couple window versions, offices, etc.). I just submitted something for a company who were apparently inflating their stock value (or something) while I owned a number of their shares. And I can't even recall doing anything to get involved in the lawsuit to begin with. That's the best part. Christmas in March. I love it.

    So, when are the consumers going to sue and and how do I convince the authorities to go after Corsair, as that's the only memory I purchased in that timeframe?