The largest criminal antitrust investigation in the history of the Justice Department just got larger. It has nothing to do with telecommunications or giant mergers or any exotic items, though; it’s all about auto parts. A worldwide price-fixing and bid-rigging conspiracy related to those auto parts has resulted in 27 guilty pleas and over $2.3 billion in fines — and the investigation is still underway. [More]
price fixing
Amazon Begins Issuing Credits From E-Book Price-Fixing Lawsuit
By 3.25.14
While Apple is still fighting the court’s ruling that it was involved in e-book price-fixing with America’s largest book publishing companies, those publishers have all reached settlements with the various regulators, attorneys general, and others over the same allegations that they colluded to set an inflated price on e-books. Today, Amazon began issuing credit to its customers who paid too much because of the publishers’ actions. [More]
Court Throws Out Online Price-Fixing Lawsuit Against Major Hotel Chains, Booking Sites
By 2.19.14
For years, some have accused America’s largest hotel chains of colluding with travel booking sites like Travelocity, Expedia, Orbitz, and Priceline to make sure that the room rates offered to consumers on these sites are the same. This practice, claimed plaintiffs in various lawsuits, effectively allowed the hotel chains to determine their own prices and kept the booking sites from competing against each other; meaning consumers could be paying more than they should. But a U.S. District Court judge feels differently. [More]
Fish, Chocolate Included In Price-Fixing Crackdown Of $4.2 Billion Last Year
By 1.8.14
Ever heard of price-fixing chocolate? How about fish or rubber shoes? Those are just a few of the price-fixing schemes found by competition authorities in a record-breaking year of anti-trust abuse. [More]
Did You File A Claim In Price-Fixing Class Action Against EA? Watch Your Mail
By 11.12.13
Did you file a claim in the recent class action settlement with EA that claimed they took advantage of an unfair marketplace for officially licensed football games? Watch your mailbox: tipsters report receiving their settlement checks in the mail. [More]
Publishers: Proposal To Punish Apple Hurts Us Instead
By 8.8.13
Last week, the Justice Dept. offered its first proposal of how Apple should be punished now that it’s been found to have colluded with publishers to fix e-book prices. Among those suggestions is that Apple cancel its existing pricing arrangement with the publishers in question and that it not enter into similar arrangements for another five years. But publishers claim that this ultimately hurts the content providers and not the retailer. [More]
Judge: Apple Conspired With Publishers To Hike E-Book Prices
By 7.10.13
It’s been an up and down sort of day for Apple — while it managed to make peace with its rival Amazon in the App Store vs. Appstore debate, it also suffered a pretty big hit by way of a guilty verdict in the antitrust civil trial over e-book price-fixing. A U.S. District judge ruled today that Apple broke antitrust laws and conspired with publishers to hike up the prices of e-books. [More]
Apple Exec: I Protected Consumers From High E-Book Prices By Letting Publishers Set High E-Book Prices
By 6.13.13
Earlier today, Apple executive Eddy Cue — the architect of the company’s iTunes and e-book business — took the stand in court to face questions about his company’s role in alleged price-fixing of the e-book market, where he admitted that Apple had actually mulled over an even worse idea than mere price-fixing. [More]
Penguin Offers To Break Up With Apple To End European E-Book Anti-Trust Case
By 4.19.13
After more than a year of squabbling with the European Commission in an anti-trust case involving Apple’s deals with five publishers that regulators called a conspiracy to fix the price of e-books, the last holdout might be close to settling up. Penguin has offered to ditch its e-book deal with Apple to end the antitrust probe. [More]
You Only Have Until Dec. 6 To Claim Portion Of $1.1 Billion LCD Price-Fixing Settlement
By 11.16.12
In the late ’90s, when most of us had TVs that weighed more than a teenager and could only dream of having a thin, widescreen TV, several manufacturers were fixing prices on the LCD screens that were about to revolutionize the industry. More than a decade later, consumers have a chance to get money back from this international criminal conspiracy. [More]
Amazon To Kindle Customers: If & When E-Book Settlement Is Approved, You Might Get A Refund
By 10.15.12
It sometimes feels like the price-fixing settlement between e-book publishers and the government has been stretching on for forever. But it now seems Amazon is prepping Kindle customers for a potential, partial refund if they bought e-books between April 2010 and May 2012. That is if the court approves the settlements in various states. [More]
Senators Ask FTC To Investigate Possible Price Fixing By Oil Refiners
By 5.17.11
Even though the U.S. Attorney General has already begun an inter-agency investigation into the manipulation of oil prices, three senators have asked the Jon Leibowitz, Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission and Consumerist pal, to investigate possible price fixing by this country’s oil refiners. [More]
Lawsuit: Land O'Lakes Must Pay $25 Million For Massive Egg Price-Fixing Conspiracy
By 6.9.10
A recent class-action lawsuit against Land O’Lakes alleges that the farmers’ co-operative was part of a price-fixing conspiracy within the the ovo-industrial complex to keep egg prices artificially high. According to court documents, conspirators worked toward having fewer total hens laying in the United States, leading to more money per egg for everyone, and a nice violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act. [More]
At Least The Prison Economy Is Flourishing
By 11.21.09
We might be dealing with low inflation and even a falling cost of living, but not everyone in the United States is dealing with the same economic woes. Americans who are in prison have their own economy—one with rampant inflation, alleged price-fixing, and a fish packet-based economy.
Anna Wintour Doesn't Understand Why Price Fixing Has To Be Illegal
By 7.30.09
The editor-in-chief of American Vogue, Anna Wintour, proposed a novel solution to the problems that plague clothing retailers at a recent industry meeting. And by “novel” we mean “she’s completely clueless.”
Babies R Us Accused Of Price Fixing
By 7.22.09
If you feel like had to pay too much for baby supplies this past decade, look to Babies R Us. Time reports that last week, “the U.S. District Court in Philadelphia granted class-action status to a complaint that Babies ‘R’ Us coerced manufacturers of high-end strollers, car seats, high chairs, strap carriers and breast pumps into preventing Internet retailers from discounting their products.”
Settlement In BA-VA Price-Fixing Class Action
By 8.6.08
You’re entitled to a small refund if you bought tickets for a long haul flight on British Airways or Virgin Atlantic between August 11, 2004 and March 23, 2006. The amount is $7-$34 per flight taken. This is the settlement in a class action lawsuit contending the two airlines colluded to fix the price of fuel surcharges. More info at airpassengerrefund.com. [via RickSeaney]
By 7.21.08
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Email surfaced in a class action lawsuit against NVIDIA and ATI suggesting that the graphics card makers have engaged in illegal price-fixing for the past half-decade. [techPowerUp!]
