17 Lithium-ion Battery Suppliers Guilty of 'Textbook Price-Fixing Cartel,' Says TracFone Complaint

The world’s largest suppliers of lithium-ion batteries for smartphones engaged in a decade-long conspiracy through 2011 to fix prices and restrain competition, TracFone Wireless alleged in a complaint filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Miami. It named 17 defendants, most of them the battery and chemical subsidiaries, but not the CE operations, of Hitachi, LG, NEC, Panasonic, Samsung, Sony and Toshiba, whose “unlawful conduct is a textbook price-fixing cartel,” the complaint alleged. They represent “a small, concentrated group” of manufacturers “producing commoditized products” that sought to “artificially increase prices by agreeing to restrain competition among themselves,” it alleged. They fixed prices “through several means,” including restricting output and supply, agreeing on prices or price targets and “using common formulas tied to material costs to set industry prices, and price-floors,” it said. “While the manner, means, and impact varied over time, the cartel’s common goal during the conspiracy was to artificially raise the prices of Lithium Ion Batteries above the competitive level.” The conspiracy was “successful, to the detriment of TracFone,” it alleged. As a result of the unlawful conduct, TracFone paid “inflated prices” for lithium-ion batteries during the decade-long period, “and has suffered antitrust injury to its business or property,” it alleged. Representatives of the companies named as defendants in the complaint didn’t comment.