By Tony Smith for The
Register.
This story has been reproduced with permission.
Samsung, Elpida, Hynix and Infineon were all found guilty by the
US Department of Justice of conspiring to set memory prices between
July 1999 and June 2002. Together they coughed up over $730m in
fines, Samsung agreeing in October 2005 to pay $300m.
Civil lawsuits followed. In May 2006, Samsung, Hynix and
Infineon agreed to pay $160m to settle a class-action brought
against them by individuals who claimed they were financially
harmed by the alleged (in this case) conspiracy – in the civil
suit, the three firms admitted no wrongdoing.
In July 2006, 34 US states took action against the companies
fingered by the DoJ. Other states joined the case at a later date.
It's this combined body that Samsung has now reached an accord
with, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said yesterday.
The states' lawsuit also names Micron, Infineon, Elpida and
Hynix. Only Micron, the only US company claimed to have taken part
in the conspiracy, avoided punitive fines from the DoJ, by
admitting its involvement – or, rather, the involvement of some
company executives – and agreeing to help the DoJ further its case
against the other firms.
© The Register
2007
