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RAM Manufacturers Fined for Price Fixing

Posted by Zonk on from the coincidences-pile-up dept.

TufelKinder writes "From Law.com: 'In the largest fine ever obtained by San Francisco antitrust prosecutors, a Korean company has agreed to plead guilty and pay $185 million for its role in a conspiracy to drive up the price of computer chips.' Micron and Infineon have also been fined for their role in the scheme." From the article: "It's the third-largest fine of its kind in the United States, and it could be just a preview of even bigger penalties. The far-reaching computer chip investigation, which alleges wrongdoing from 1999 through 2002, affects thousands of consumers."

2 of 216 comments (clear)

  1. this wasn't a class action by hawk · · Score: 3, Informative

    This was the government. It's a fine. Fines go to the government.

    There have been additional claass action suits filed, which will make the ambulance chasers, err, plaintiff's lawyers, wealthy while producing almost nothing for the customers.

    hawk

  2. Awesome! by ryanw · · Score: 3, Informative

    So now they have a REAL reason to charge more for the memory. Sounds like a solution to benifit the consumers for sure! How much of the $185 million went to lawyers and lawfirms and how much of that is going back to the consumers? $0.18 checks aren't worth crap to the consumer that bought the memory at the 'fixed rate'. Cause in the end, the consumers get nothing back from a suit like this except paying more for the memory in the future because of the impact of the lawsuit. The lawyers make out like a bandit! Why else do imagine these lawsuits exist?