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AMD/nVidia sued for price fixing
Posted: 2006-12-08 02:10pm
by Ace Pace
Excuse the source.
A FLURRY OF ANTITRUST CLASS actions (code 410) have started in the USA against Nvidia, ATI and AMD.
It never rains but it pours.
Summons were issued by one Trong Nguyen on behalf of himself and others against Nvidia, ATI, and AMD. Lots of other plaintiffs have joined in, following news that ATI and Nvidia received summons from the Department of Justice (DoJ) for unspecified reasons as we reported on the 1st of December, here. Intel did not receive a subpoena from the DoJ.
The allegation is that Nvidia, ATI and AMD conspired to manipulate graphics card pricing, while the filing seen by the INQ said the DoJ has demanded a heap of data going back to the late 1990s.
The allegations cite sources saying that the price points of graphics cards are practically always the same - at around $500 for the top end stuff.
The allegation is the defendants and co-conspirators "have engaged in a contract combination, trust or conspiracy, the effect of which was to raise the prices at which they sold graphics processing units and cards to artificially inflated levels."
Executives of the company are also alleged to have had meetings and conversations to discuss pricing of graphics processing units and cards in the US.
Further, there are allegations that the defendants concealed this behaviour, which would constitute a cartel, if a judge or the DoJ found against them. UK reps of the firms concerned could not be contacted at press time, as it is after 6PM on a Friday here. ยต
PDF of the suit available at link.
Posted: 2006-12-08 02:39pm
by MKSheppard
that's just full of shit!
There's a goddamn reason they always end up at $500; because the technilogy is always BLEEDING EDGE you moron!
Posted: 2006-12-08 03:30pm
by Arrow
Assuming the INQ got this right, this is horse shit. Both companies use similar technology to support the same APIs, DirectX and OpenGL. Is it any surprise their products cost the same? And if you want to see expensive, lets talk about the professional parts. Hey, DoJ, this ain't Grandma's integrated accelerated!
The allegations cite sources saying that the price points of graphics cards are practically always the same - at around $500 for the top end stuff.
WTF? Idiots. Yes, the high-end Nvidia 6x00 and 7x00 parts were around the $500 mark. But I clearly remember my GF3 being $400 at launch, and my 8800 GTX still is $650. I think my 9700 Pro, which I bought shortly after its launch, was $350. And there's plenty of lower-end parts available at a whole ton of different price points. Oh wait, the 8800 GTS is $499, so there must be collusion going on!
Posted: 2006-12-08 04:13pm
by Master of Ossus
Arrow wrote:WTF? Idiots. Yes, the high-end Nvidia 6x00 and 7x00 parts were around the $500 mark. But I clearly remember my GF3 being $400 at launch, and my 8800 GTX still is $650. I think my 9700 Pro, which I bought shortly after its launch, was $350. And there's plenty of lower-end parts available at a whole ton of different price points. Oh wait, the 8800 GTS is $499, so there must be collusion going on!
I concur. This is retarded. Maybe $500 is a good price point for high-end graphics cards, and so they just design the parts to cost that much, too.
Posted: 2006-12-08 04:24pm
by Arrow
Master of Ossus wrote:Maybe $500 is a good price point for high-end graphics cards, and so they just design the parts to cost that much, too.
That wouldn't surprise me, since the lower priced parts are basically "what can we strip out of our high end part to make it cheaper".
Posted: 2006-12-08 05:52pm
by White Haven
Naturally the prevalence of the GT models, high-end cards around the ~300-dollar range, would indicate that there's a scam going on by which good cards aren't available except at the 500-dollar mark.
...wait a sec...