Nvidia, ATI accused of price cartel, grand jury involved - Prices kept artificially high, claim

By Mike Magee @ Tuesday, July 15, 2008 7:33 AM

Section - PCs/Chips

Class actions against Nvidia and ATI – now AMD – have taken a not so pretty turn when a judge read out an email which suggested price fixing was rife in the graphics card market.

That follows a class action of 51 different plaintiffs, now combined into one, and across different legal jurisdictions, alleging cartel behaviour not only in graphics chips, but flat panels and CRTs too.

According to the filing, Nvidia and ATI conspired to fix the price of graphics processors sold in the US.  It’s alleged the defendants timed their introductions in collusion with each other.

It’s alleged Nvidia and ATI introduced products at the same time at near identical prices.

The filing said a federal grand jury is conducting an investigation into both Nvidia and AMD – which now owns ATI – and has issued subpoenas to both companies.

Law firm Boies, Schiller and Flexner has produced charts in its plaintiffs’case which it alleges demonstrates a conspiracy existed. Damages are sought. You can find this PDF on my bog, here. X

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