In In re: Optical Disk Drive Products Antitrust Litigation, Northern District of California District Judge Richard Seeborg rejected motions to dismiss the class claim that the defendants conspired to rig bidding and fix prices on optical disc drives. The court had dismissed the initial complaint alleging a broad conspiracy among companies selling products containing disc drives for failure to allege sufficient facts supporting the conspiracy allegations.
The amended complaint narrowed the scope of the conspiracy to the disc drive manufacturers’ efforts to stabilize prices through bid rigging and included numerous specific allegations of bid-rigging in the procurement of optical disk drives.
The court expressed concern about the definition of the direct and in-direct purchaser classes, but allowed the case to go forward explaining that those concerns do not undermine the plausibility of the conspiracy claims.