Laptop Owners May Benefit from Optical Disk Drive Settlement

Did you know that you could qualify for a cash payment from a $180 million class action settlement simply by owning a laptop?

If you purchased a new computer with a DVD-RW, DVD-ROM or COMBO drive between April 2003 and December 2008, you may be entitled to compensation from the optical disk drive antitrust settlement.

The deadline to file a claim is Oct. 30, 2017, so act quickly if you qualify. In most cases, it will only take a few minutes to file a claim.

Class Members of the optical disk drive settlement include anyone who, between April 1, 2003 and Dec. 31, 2008, purchased for personal use a new computer with an internal optical disk drive (ODD), a stand-alone ODD designed for internal use in a computer, or an ODD designed to be attached externally to a computer.

To qualify for compensation, you must have made the purchase while you were a resident of Arizona, California, the 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 or Wisconsin.

Panasonic-brand computers are not included in the optical disk drive class action settlement. Optical disk drives that were purchased directly from a defendant in the litigation are also excluded from this settlement.

The amount of compensation you may be entitled to receive has not yet been determined, but it is estimated that the payment amount will be approximately $10 per drive. This amount could increase or decrease based on the number of timely and valid claims filed.

There is no limit to the number of disk drives that you can claim, and you do not need to provide proof of purchase to be eligible for compensation.

The optical disk drive settlement will resolve allegations that ODD suppliers engaged in a conspiracy to fix, maintain or stabilize the prices of optical disk drives at artificially high levels, violating state and federal antitrust laws.

The settling defendants include: Koninklijke Philips NV, Lite-On IT Corporation, Philips & Lite-On Digital Solutions Corporation, Philips & Lite-On Digital Solutions U.S.A. Inc., Pioneer Corporation, Pioneer North America Inc., Pioneer Electronics (USA) Inc., Pioneer High Fidelity Taiwan Co. Ltd., TEAC America Inc. and TEAC Corporation.

A trial date has been set for Feb. 12, 2018 against the remaining defendants, which include BenQ Corporation, BenQ America Corp., Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Toshiba Corp., Toshiba Samsung Storage Technology Corp., Toshiba Samsung Storage Technology Corp. Korea, and Quanta Storage Inc.

For more information about the optical disk drive class action settlement and to file a claim, visit www.DollarsForDiskDrives.com/TCA.

NOTE: If you previously filed a claim for the initial settlements with Panasonic, Sony, NEC and HLDS, your claim will automatically be included in the new settlements with PLDS, Pioneer, TEAC, and any future settlements that may be reached with other defendants named in the optical disk drive class action lawsuit.

The plaintiffs are represented by Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP.

The Optical Disk Drive Class Action Lawsuit is In re: Optical Disk Drive Antitrust Litigation, Case No. 3:10-md-2143-RS, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, San Francisco Division.