Optical Disc Drive Settlement

Living Room
#1

Hey guys. Did anyone else get a payment from this lawsuit? There was a class action suit in the US against the ODD makers, and if you signed up years ago, they are finally paying the consumers a small amount. I sent in a claim for three drives and they paid me $30 today, in the form of an electronic Amazon gift card. There were several options for payment, but you would have had to sign up in the beginning for a paper check. All the other options were/are electronic.

I’m sure a bunch of you could have made claims for a dozen or more drives. The lawsuit applied for drives purchased between 2003 and 2008.

1 Like
#2

I have never heard of this.
What was it about?

#3

It was an anti-trust suit, accusing the optical drive manufacturers of conspiring to keep prices at an artificially high level. None of the manufacturers admitted guilt, but most settled the case, and paid up. Total payment was $205 million, I believe. Lawyers got 20% of that.

Most of the big names were involved: Sony, Toshiba, Philips, Samsung, Pioneer, NEC, Teac, and Hitachi, among others. BenQ fought the case and won, though that decision is being appealed.

I don’t know if you can still make a claim. It may be too late for that.

3 Likes
#4

I also had no idea about this. But at that time, I only used LaCie built drives, so it didn’t apply to me anyway. Interesting how long it took though!

#5

I only bought one drive in that time frame, which is my original DVD burner (all of my CD burners were 2002 or earlier I think), Liteon 1673s which I would have bought in 2005.

I imagine this must be it… Optical Disk Drive Indirect Purchaser Class Action Settlement - Top Class Actions

but it appears it’s too late at this point even if someone qualified.

#6

I bought - maybe 25 drives or more - not sure how many would have qualified me, though. My 2 Vinpower duplicators are 8 drives each times 2 - Sony Optiarc drives, and the first drive was a Yamaha 4x4x16 SCSI, but that was before the price was “artificially inflated.” Damn sure was pricey though!

Ah, we were so young back then. :slight_smile: