This post was published 2 years 7 months 18 days ago and its content may not be valid anymore.

Notice of class action settlements for anyone who purchased DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory during the period beginning April 1, 1999 and continuing through June 30, 2002.

If you area Class Member, your rights will be affected by four separate proposed settlements with Defendants: 1) Elpida Memory, Inc and Elpida Memory (USA) Inc. (collectively, “Elipda”), 2) NEC Electronics America, INc (”NEC”), 3) Winbond Electronics Corporation and Winbond Electronics Corporation America (collectively, “Winbond”), and 4) Micron Technology, Inc.; Micron Semiconductor Products, INc. through its Crucial Technology division (collectively, “Micron”) (the “Proposed Settlements”).

Notice some of those names? The Class Action alleges that during the period of April 1, 1999 through June 30, 2002:

[...] Defendants engaged in an unlawful conspiracy to fix, raise, maintain or stabilize the prices of DRAM in the United States and/or allocate among themselves, major customers and accounts in violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act, Title 15 U.S.C. § 1. Plaintiffs allege that, as a result of the unlawful consipracy, they and other members of the Class paid more for DRAM than they would have paid absent of the alleged conspiracy.

Now, this may all be old news to some, but entirely new news for myself. Such a lawsuit would explain / confirm my reasoning for RAM prices being so difficult to accept.

The defendants deny all of Plaintiffs’ allegations and have asserted numerous affirmative defenses. Defendants Infineon Technologies AG, Samsung Electronics Company, Ltd., Hynix Semiconductors, Inc., Elpida and certain of their employees have pleaded guilty to criminal violations of the federal antitrust laws.

For additional information and a summary of the proposed settlements, visit http://dramantitrustsettlement.com. If you purchased during the period outlined above, “You should retain all documents that substantiate your purchases of DRAM during the Class Period from each of the Defendants”.

Thoughts on the matter? Where you aware of the lawsuit? Do you still think RAM prices are high? I sure do, I would love to be able to bump the RAM in my Mac Pro without needed to spend the equivalent of a new Mac Mini.