Feds Probe Antitrust Violations In Optical Disc Drive Industry
The U.S. Justice Department is looking into possible violations of antitrust law within the optical disc drive industry, department spokeswoman Gina Talamona said on Tuesday.
Although she declined to provide details about the investigation, or to disclose which companies are involved, Reuters reported that Sony, Hitachi and Toshiba have all acknowledged receiving subpoenas about the case.
Optical disc drives are devices that read or write data onto media such as DVDs, CDs, and Blu-ray discs.
Sony Corp. said on Monday that its U.S.-based optical disc drive operations were under investigation for possible antitrust violations. A company spokesman said that Sony Optiarc America had received a subpoena by the U.S. Justice Department, and suggested other regulators could follow suit.
Meanwhile, Japan’s Hitachi Ltd. and Toshiba Corp. said on Tuesday that their optical disc drive operations with South Korean partners were also under international investigation for possible antitrust violations, Reuters reported.
Hitachi said that Hitachi-LG Data Storage, its joint venture with LG Electronics, had received a subpoena by the U.S. Justice Department subpoena, and that the unit was also under investigation by regulators in the European Union and Singapore.
Toshiba said its joint venture with Samsung Electronics, Toshiba Samsung Storage Technology Corp, had also received a subpoena, and was also answering questions from authorities in other regions.
The Justice department has initiated a series of investigations since Christine Varney took charge of the department’s antitrust division this spring.
The probes include an investigation into allegations that International Business Machines (IBM) abused its leading market position within the mainframe business to squeeze out competitors.
An investigation into possible anti-competitive practices involving credit derivatives is also under way.
The department is also probing telecom providers for potential antitrust violations, following complaints from smaller firms that industry heavyweights such as AT&T and Verizon Communications had used their market dominance to eliminate smaller rivals.
The smaller telecom firms have also objected to the exclusive deals that wireless network operators secured with handset makers.
The department also criticized a class action settlement between Google and the Authors Guild that would allow the Internet search giant to put millions of books online. The division has urged a judge assessing the agreement to reject it.
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