Circuit City's Liquidation Trustee Alleges Vast Optical-Drive Price-Fixing Conspiracy

Philips, Samsung, Sony and Toshiba and their various subsidiaries conspired to fix prices of optical disc drives (ODDs) between 2004 and 2010 and sold them at illegally inflated prices, costing Circuit City more than $50 million in damages. So alleged Alfred Siegel, who runs the liquidating trust for the now-defunct Circuit City chain that filed for bankruptcy in November 2008 before moving to liquidate its stores in January 2009 (see 0902230126). Siegel’s trust estimates Circuit City bought $1 billion worth of ODDs and “ODD-containing goods” from Philips during the “relevant period,” and $2 billion worth from Samsung, $4.6 billion worth from Sony, and $2 billion worth from Toshiba, Siegel said in an antitrust complaint filed Monday in U.S. District Court in San Francisco. “As a result of Defendants’ illegal actions, Circuit City was injured by paying substantially more for ODDs than it would have otherwise,” the complaint said. “Defendants and their co-conspirators carried out their price-fixing conspiracy through an integrated and sustained series of anticompetitive acts,” including through the “rigging” of procurement activities and the systematic exchange of confidential business information, the complaint said. Siegel’s trust seeks to recover “treble its actual damages, as provided by applicable federal and state law,” as well as “all other available monetary and equitable remedies available under California’s unfair competition laws,” the complaint said. Representatives for Philips, Samsung, Sony and Toshiba didn’t comment.