OnPoint expert Dr. Gareth Macartney recently provided deposition testimony in an antitrust lawsuit against a number of big-name electronics companies that specialize in manufacturing, distributing, and selling optical disk drives (In re: Optical Disk Drive Products Antitrust Litigation). Dr. Macartney served as an economic expert on behalf of Direct Purchaser Plaintiffs Acer America Corporation, Gateway, Inc. and Gateway U.S. Retail, Inc. (formerly known as eMachines, Inc.). In February, Dr. Macartney also filed an expert report that analyzed the economic damages allegedly suffered by the plaintiffs as a result of the defendants’ purported anticompetitive behavior.
The ongoing case addresses the plaintiffs’ claim that between approximately January 2004 and January 2010, defendants Philips, Lite-On, Sony/NEC, Toshiba, Samsung, TSST, and Pioneer—along with their co-conspirators—participated in a price-fixing and bid-rigging conspiracy to artificially increase the prices of Optical Disk Drives (“ODDs”) sold in the United States. The plaintiffs claim that the defendants and their co-conspirators successfully coordinated price-setting agreements for the sale of ODDs through alleged anticompetitive acts, including bid-rigging for ODDs in procurement events, allocating customers and markets, and sharing confidential pricing, sales, production, and bidding strategy information. Plaintiffs are seeking damages and injunctive relief in order to rectify injuries to their businesses, as well as the other negative impacts resulting from the billions of dollars of ODD purchases made at artificially inflated prices.