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EU looking into optical drive makers dubbed a cartel

Antitrust regulators in the EU have let optical disk drive makers know that they are facing potential fines over rigging bids as part of a cartel.

The thirteen companies were not revealed, yet.



European Commission officials sent statements of objections to each of the companies.

"The Commission has concerns that those suppliers may have coordinated their behavior in bidding events organized by two major original equipment manufacturers for optical disk drives used in personal computers (desktops and notebooks) and in servers," said the EC (via Reuters).

Each of the companies manufacturer or sell optical disk drives like CD, DVD and Blu-ray readers and writers.

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 24 Jul 2012 13:04

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• 16 comments

• WW3

  What's next, the people who produce tooth brushes are fixing prices!? GIVE ME A BREAK!!
  

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  24.7.2012 14:57 #1

• bobiroc

  Translation: The EU is crying again because the 13 optical drive companies where not from Europe and there are one or two companies that make crappy optical drives in Europe that cannot compete with their crappy products.
  

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  24.7.2012 18:02 #2

• WW3

  Originally posted by bobiroc: Translation: The EU is crying again because the 13 optical drive companies where not from Europe and there are one or two companies that make crappy optical drives in Europe that cannot compete with their crappy products. Further translation, they can't charge outrageous taxes to save the failing "union" from oblivion, so they are going another route to gasp for any money they can get, because outrageous spending habits seem to only be fixed by more spending.... oh, wait, that sounds familiar. America =/= Europe
  

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  24.7.2012 18:15 #3

• DVDBack23

  You guys are pro-cartel and pro-price fixing?
  

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  24.7.2012 18:27 #4

• WW3

  Short answer, No. If they really wanted to fix the situation, then times will have to change. It's more like the real cartel here is the E.U., the game is up and they can't stop it from collapsing.
  

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  24.7.2012 18:44 #5

• bobiroc

  Originally posted by DVDBack23: You guys are pro-cartel and pro-price fixing? Not at all but the EU has a habit of going after non-European companies with often outrageous claims all while having a hidden agenda to try and make it so some European company has an unfair advantage in competition.
  

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  24.7.2012 19:25 #6

• WW3

  Originally posted by bobiroc: Originally posted by DVDBack23: You guys are pro-cartel and pro-price fixing? Not at all but the EU has a habit of going after non-European companies with often outrageous claims all while having a hidden agenda to try and make it so some European company has an unfair advantage in competition. That's another point to make, but I get upset that anyone's hard earned money is wasted, and sometimes go off topic with that. I agree with bobiroc here, while I can't say for sure he agrees with me, at least we have a mutual point to agree on.
  

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  24.7.2012 19:29 #7

• Interestx

  WW3
  
  "the real cartel here is the E.U., the game is up and they can't stop it from collapsing"
  
  Plainly you don't know much about the EU.
  The truth is several companies have been caught fixing prices in a blatant anti-consumer manner.
  
  But you aren't interested in that, you prefer the lunatic Fox version of events that pretends any corporate malpractice = freedom and anything democrats do by way of fair regulation = enslavement.
  
  Your bipolar world must be fun.
  
  Yes some of the southern European states are having problems (but then Greece was not solvent during the whole of the 20th century.....and let's not forget the role Goldman Sachs played in helping them fraud the Euro entry requirments) but the idea that the EU is about to go under is laughable.
  
  We usually only see that sort of political bias from the EU-hate nutters in the UK.
  

  24.7.2012 21:01 #8

• ivymike

  IT'S ABOUT TIME the EU went after this price-fixing. Unfortunately, it involves only the disc drive makers and not the CPU, motherboard, video card, sound card, etc, etc. I wish my once-proud country's gov't had the balls that the EU has.....

  24.7.2012 21:30 #9

• BlurrTechnicolour

  @Interestx
  
  you pretty much nailed it with your comment
  
  its just really amusing to read the comments of WW3 and bobiroc because they sound like corporate trolls
  
  @WW3 and bobiroc
  
  if you would know anything about the European Union you wouldnt be so big mouthed
  because compared to the USofA most europeans still can make a decent living with ONE JOB
  and the whole debt thing just look up some recent statistics and stop talking out of your arses

  25.7.2012 03:55 #10

• WW3

  Originally posted by Interestx:
  
  WW3
  
  "the real cartel here is the E.U., the game is up and they can't stop it from collapsing"
  
  Plainly you don't know much about the EU.
  The truth is several companies have been caught fixing prices in a blatant anti-consumer manner.
  
  But you aren't interested in that, you prefer the lunatic Fox version of events that pretends any corporate malpractice = freedom and anything democrats do by way of fair regulation = enslavement.
  
  Your bipolar world must be fun.
  
  Yes some of the southern European states are having problems (but then Greece was not solvent during the whole of the 20th century.....and let's not forget the role Goldman Sachs played in helping them fraud the Euro entry requirments) but the idea that the EU is about to go under is laughable.
  
  We usually only see that sort of political bias from the EU-hate nutters in the UK. Yes, because if you want to actually start a small business on your own you must be a fox news addict, for the record I haven't watched any television for some time now, several months in fact I haven't watched cable news since the last time I moved and that was even further back than that. I could go into explaining it, but then I would be further breaking the rules here at afterdawn.
  
  As you know politics is against the rules, I was stating facts that anyone with half a mind could tell are true as long as they have no bias. As for the banks, they share just as much to blame for the situation as the politicians, it's not a talking point here, it's another fact. How is it a fact? During tarp, the federal government of the united states lent out money to foreign banks to buy banks here in the united states who were in the clear financially, tell me that isn't crooked! Again, it's just facts I am pointing out, not some bullshit excuse from fox news, who actually are the new CNN so if you can't handle it, I can't tell you anything else but sorry about your luck, because the politicians mostly all after the same goal.
  
  Originally posted by BlurrTechnicolour: @Interestx
  
  you pretty much nailed it with your comment
  
  its just really amusing to read the comments of WW3 and bobiroc because they sound like corporate trolls
  
  @WW3 and bobiroc
  
  if you would know anything about the European Union you wouldnt be so big mouthed
  because compared to the USofA most europeans still can make a decent living with ONE JOB
  and the whole debt thing just look up some recent statistics and stop talking out of your arses I am glad you are amused, I will do my best to think of all Europeans when the system collapses. Look over an article or two on financial times, tell me things are going great for Europe.
  

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  26.7.2012 02:31 #11

• BlurrTechnicolour

  from WW3
  I am glad you are amused, I will do my best to think of all Europeans when the system collapses.
  
  and yet another example on how little you actually know
  
  from WW3
  Look over an article or two on financial times, tell me things are going great for Europe.
  
  nope its not going great withuot a doubt still we´re way better than other parts of the world

  26.7.2012 03:41 #12

• Interestx

  Originally posted by WW3: Yes, because if you want to actually start a small business on your own you must be a fox news addict Perhaps you ought to try harder not to sound so much like one then?
  
  Originally posted by WW3: I was stating facts No you weren't.
  
  You were stating the silly (political) notions some on the more absurd & ill-informed extreme right-wing in the US hold about the EU.
  
  You used this to attack a perfectly legitimate EU investigation into anti-competitive practives & anti-consumer behaviours.
  
  It's odd because as I understand it even in the USA today such things are illegal & subject to state intervention & investigation.
  
  Originally posted by WW3: I am glad you are amused, I will do my best to think of all Europeans when the system collapses. You seem confused.
  
  Are you trying to tell us the EU is going to collapse or have you confused the EU with the Euro currency?
  It would help if you could make yourself clear.
  I ask because not many commentators here (you cited the FT) would go anything like as far as predicting an EU collapse.
  
  Oh and just for the record the Euro isn't going to collapse either, it is true that Greece and/or one or two other members might leave it but so far even that looks unlikely.
  
  The anti-EU crowd have spent the most of the last 2 years convincing themselves that the day they have claimed was inevitable (since the Euro started in 1999) had finally arrived.
  Yet for all their noise somehow it just never happens.
  As usual.
  
  If you're going to start spouting about the EU/Euro at least get a clue.
  
  Originally posted by WW3: Look over an article or two on financial times, tell me things are going great for Europe. .....which is a long long way removed from saying either the EU or the Euro is on the verge of collapse.
  
  You might want to think about how a newspaper or magazine, even one like the FT, is full of opinion and editorialised POV. Plus the so-called 'Euro-sceptic' gang are notorious in the UK.
  
  But for all that even at the best of times the FT is not infallible or the word of God and just cos some talking head or economist said so in the FT doesn't make it true.
  (like as if economists are such a credible source of info on future possibbilities these days)
  
  This is all about as accurate as saying the USA's current economic problems mean that the USA and/or the US $ is on the verge of collapse.
  
  It is as I said laughable nonsense.
  (but even on this you will find commentators who say it might happen too)
  
  .....also amusing is the way you now (having done your politics bit about the EU/Euro) start wanting to go big on Afterdawn rules re politics.
  
  Better luck next time.
  

  26.7.2012 14:45 #13

• WW3

  you know, alright fine. I am not going to risk a ban here, http://www.cnbc.com/id/48348748 with 25% unemployment in spain for example, things sure do look good. I am just going to leave this topic alone, because I like afterdawn and I want to be aloud to post here. say whatever you will, when the system collapses in both countries I can't help you, and you can't help me.
  

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  27.7.2012 12:01 #14

• Interestx

  WW3
  
  Relax.
  We're not having another world war and the end of days isn't here.
  
  Neither 'system' is about to collapse either.
  
  We're simply moving from one paradigm - the last 30yrs of deregulation & freer markets - to another where we exert greater controls.
  There's no mystery about it either.
  People & business have done what they can be relied upon to do, they went too far with it.
  So we are going back to a situation where the state exerts more controls to limit the excesses and damaging possibilities.
  
  Think of it as a return to a more Nixonian past.
  
  (just imagine the outcry from the tea-bagging dupes if a top rate of tax for the already most wealthy of 80%+ was being called for by Obama!)
  
  500 million Europeans prefer it that way.
  We prefer a system where business does not get to do anything it wants without responsibility or accountability in the states within which it operates.
  If we create the conditions for a civilised market to operate then we sure as hell are going to, quite rightly, have a say about the ethics of those businesses.
  
  Which brings us back to this outrageous malpractice.
  Which we the people, through our national Govs & the collective EU, have every right to say no to.
  If you want to trade here (to that single largest 1st world market) then you have to play by our (perfectly normal & fair) rules.
  There is nothing wrong with that.
  

  27.7.2012 22:05 #15

• Interestx

  .....oh and unemployment in parts of the EU?
  
  Yes it is a problem & yes it is high in places (it is also low in others) but at least we count it properly.
  We do not have an unemployment system & statistics where people just disappear from it if unemployed for 2yrs.
  Unlike some places.
  Eh?
  

  27.7.2012 22:07 #16