In 2002, armed with the Sherman Antitrust Act, the US Department of Justice began a probe in the the activities of DRAM manufacturers. US computer makers, including Dell Inc and Gateway, claimed that unfounded price for DRAM was costing lost profits and hindering their effectiveness in the marketplace. The Sherman Anti-Trust Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1, was the first United States federal government action to limit the monopolies which trust companies held over the economy. ... The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) is a Cabinet department in the United States government designed to enforce the law and defend the interests of the United States according to the law and to ensure fair and impartial administration of justice for all Americans. ... DRAM is a type of random access memory that stores each bit of data in a separate capacitor. ... Dell, Inc. ...
To date, three manufacturers have plead guilty to their involvement in the international conspiracy. In October of 2004, four executives from Infineon were sentanced to 4 to 6 month in jail and $250,000 in fines. After the four were sentanced, Scott D. Hammond, the Director of Criminal Enforcement for the DoJ Antitrust Division said, "These four executives are the first to plead guilty to a charge of fixing prices in what is still a very active and far-reaching investigation into antitrust violations in the DRAM industry. We will continue in our efforts to bring to justice other domestic and foreign-based executives who were involved with fixing DRAM prices." Infineon Technologies is a German manufacturer of integrated circuits and related products. ...
On October 20, 2004, Infineon also plead guilty. They were given a $160M fine for their involvement, which, at the time, was the third largest antitrust fine in US history. Hynix Semiconductor soon took the third position in April 2005 with a $185M criminal penalty after they also plead guilty. In October 2005, Samsung entered their quilty plea in connection with the cartel. Their $300M fine to date is the second largest antitrust fine in US history. Hynix Semiconductor Inc. ... Samsung was founded in 1969, and one of its subsidiaries, Samsung Electronics Co. ...
Most agreements between business competitors regarding the pricing of a product are considered price fixing and are illegal in many countries. ... It has been suggested that competition law be merged into this article or section. ... The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) is a Cabinet department in the United States government designed to enforce the law and defend the interests of the United States according to the law and to ensure fair and impartial administration of justice for all Americans. ... The Sherman Anti-Trust Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1, was the first United States federal government action to limit the monopolies which trust companies held over the economy. ... // Bernard Ebbers Bernard John Ebbers Bernard John Ebbers, also known as Bernie Ebbers is a Canadian-born businessman. ...
Bid rigging is considered a form of pricefixing and is illegal in the United States.
When the agreement to control price is sanctioned by a multilateral treaty or is entered by sovereign nations, as opposed to individual firms, the cartel may be protected from lawsuits and criminal antitrust prosecution.
Also international airline tickets have pricesfixed by agreement with the IATA, a practice for which there is a specific exemption in antitrust law.
Hynix is the latest DRAM maker to reach a settlement with the Justice Department, as part of its ongoing investigation into pricefixing in the dynamic random access memory industry.
"DRAM is a key component in the price of computers," Scott Hammond, a deputy assistant attorney general, told reporters.
The Justice Department began its investigation into pricefixing in 2002, sending out subpoenas to such DRAM makers as Micron and Elpida Memory of Japan, according to statements by those companies.
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