Optical Disk Drive Anti-Competition National Class Action

**SETTLEMENT ALERT: OPTICAL DISK DRIVE PRICE-FIXING**

On April 7, 2010, Consumer Law Group commenced a class action against several manufacturers of Optical Disk Drives (“ODD”) alleging that numerous ODD manufacturers and distributors conspired to fix the prices for ODD, and that this resulted in consumers, businesses, and other purchasers paying too much for ODD and ODD Products purchased in Canada.

Settlements have been reached with some of the defendants, including:

• NEC Corporation and NEC Canada, Inc. (“NEC”) for $730,000 CDN;
• TEAC Corporation, TEAC America, Inc. and TEAC Canada, Ltd. (“TEAC”) for $500,000 USD;
• Hitachi-LG Data Storage, Inc. and Hitachi-LG Data Storage Korea, Inc. (“HLDS”) for $8,123,940 CDN. This settlement also releases Hitachi, Ltd., Hitachi Canada, Ltd., Hitachi America Ltd., LG Electronics Inc., LG Electronics Canada, Inc., and LG Electronics USA, Inc.;
• Sony Corporation, Sony Optiarc, Inc., Sony Optiarc America Inc., Sony of Canada Ltd., Sony Electronics, Inc. Sony Corporation of America, and Sony NEC Optiarc, Inc. (“Sony”) for $4,400,000 CDN; and
• Philips & Lite-On Digital Solutions Corporation and Philips & Lite-On Digital Solutions USA, Inc. (“PLDS”) for $5,695,000 CDN. This settlement also releases Koninklijke Philips N.V., Lite-On IT Corporation of Taiwan, Lite-On IT Corporation, Philips Canada Ltd., Philips Electronics North America Corporation, and Philips Electronics Ltd.

Copies of the Canadian ODD Class Action National Settlement Agreements are available here:

• NEC Settlement Agreement
• TEAC Settlement Agreement
• HLDS Settlement Agreement
• Sony Settlement Agreement
• PLDS Settlement Agreement

The TEAC, NEC and Hitachi-LG Settlement Agreements have already been approved by the Superior Court of Quebec by Judgment dated May 4, 2018. The Sony Settlement Agreement was equally approved by Judgment dated June 18, 2019.

Hearings to consider approval of the PLDS settlement will be heard by the British Columbia Court in the City of Vancouver on September 16, 2019 at 9:00 a.m., the Ontario Court in the City of London on December 9, 2019 at 9:30 a.m., and the Quebec Court in the City of Montreal on November 27, 2019 at 2:00 p.m. in room 2.08.

By Judgment dated August 1, 2019, the Superior Court of Quebec ordered publication of the following notices regarding these hearings:

• Publication Settlement Hearing Notice
• Short-Form Settlement Hearing Notice
• Long-Form Settlement Hearing Notice

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CONSUMER LAW GROUP has launched a class Canada-wide action lawsuit against Sony, Sony Optiarc, Toshiba, Samsung, Hitachi, LG, Philips, Lite-On It, NEC, and TEAC on behalf of individuals who own any products with an Optical Disk Drive (“ODD”), such as CD, DVD, and Blu-ray drives which are frequently used in personal computers, video game consoles, and other electronics.

The class action is based on these companies secretly colluding to fix, raise, maintain and stabilize artificially the price at which ODDs were sold, so as to restrict or eliminating any competition, thereby artificially inflating the sale price to consumers.

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The class action lawsuit identifies the group of affected persons as:

All residents in Canada who purchased used, and/or received an Optical Disk Drive (“ODD”) or purchased any products which contain an ODD, since approximately January 2001 through to the present, or any other group to be determined by the Court;

If you or someone you know own any products that have a CD, DVD, or Blu-ray drive and you wish more information on potential compensation or to be kept advised of the status of the Optical Disk Drive Anti-Competition Class Action litigation or any resulting compensation from the Optical Disk Drive Anti-Competition Lawsuit in Canada, Quebec or Ontario, please provide your contact information to our law firm using the below form.

IF YOU WISH TO JOIN THE CLASS ACTION OR TO SIMPLY GET MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE COMPLETE THE FORM BELOW. Please note that providing your information creates no financial obligation for you. You are not charged any fee or cost for joining this class action. Our law firm is paid a contingency fee from the compensation recovered, only if the class action is successful. All information contained in this transmission is confidential and Consumer Law Group agrees to protect this information against unauthorized use, publication or disclosure.