Pioneer, Philips Settle Optical Disk Drive Class Action for $50.5M

Electronics manufacturers Pioneer and Philips have agreed to settle a class action alleging that they colluded with competitors to set prices for optical disk drives.

The companies have agreed to pay a combined $50.5 million to settle this action.

The original lawsuit alleges that multiple electronics companies conspired with each other for years on the price of cd-rom drives and dvd drives for computers.

On March 13, the indirect purchaser plaintiffs filed a motion asking the court to approve this settlement with two of the defendant companies. With previous settlements of other optical disk drive manufacturers, this brings the total amount of money to pay Class Members up to $175 million.

“The settlements are an exceptional result for the class,” the plaintiffs assert.

This class action is split into two groups, and these settlements are only for “indirect purchasers” of optical disk drives. “Indirect purchasers” are typically consumers who bought computers or disk drives from third party websites and retail stores, not from the defendant manufacturers directly.

If approved by the court, indirect Class Members will include: “All persons and entities who, as residents of Arizona, California, District of Columbia, Florida, Hawaii, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia and Wisconsin and during the period April 2003 to December 2008, purchased new for their own use and not for resale: (i) a computer with an internal ODD; (ii) a stand-alone ODD designed for internal use in computers; or (iii) an ODD designed to be attached externally to a computer.”

Class Members can read more about the prior settlements and how to file a claim here or by visiting www.DollarsForDiskDrives.com/TCA.

The plaintiffs’ motion says that this $175 million will be distributed “pro rata” to Class Members based on: “(1) the number of ODDs purchased by the class member; and (2) the number of valid claims filed.”

The Class expects to send emails to around 25 million consumers from records of computer and optical disk drive purchasers. The plaintiffs state that several defendants in the antitrust conspiracy remain in the lawsuit that equal roughly 25 percent of the total market, so the total settlement amount could grow.

In their motion, the plaintiffs also argue to the court that this settlement with Philips and Pioneer should be approved, because of the unique position of both Pioneer and Philips. According to the class action, Philips cooperated with the federal government and were essentially whistleblowers of the antitrust conspiracy, and as such could have argued for reduced damages at trial. And Pioneer played a “relatively minor role” in “the overall conspiracy.”

Given the previous settlements with Sony, Hitachi-LG Data Storage, Panasonic Corp., and others, the plaintiffs contend that these settlements “are entitled to a presumption of fairness,” and the court should approve them.

The Indirect Purchasers are represented by Steve W. Berman, Jeff D. Friedman, and Shana E. Scarlett of Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP, and others.

The Optical Disk Drive Indirect Purchaser Class Action Lawsuit is In re: Optical Disk Drive Products Antitrust Litigation, Case No. 3:10-md-02143, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, San Francisco Division.