The lawsuit claims that the disk drive makers shared information about prices, production and sales, and agreed to set prices and rig bids for their products sold in the United States. Dell claims that as a result, it was sold disk drives at inflated prices.

According to Dell, the price fixing affected billions of dollars in purchases over a time period from 2004 to 2010. The lawsuit accuses the disk drive makers of breach of contract and violation of U.S. antitrust law. Under the provisions of antitrust law, Dell is seeking triple damages.

In 2011, the Justice Department said that Hitachi-LG pleaded guilty to rigging bids and fixing prices and agreed to pay a $21.1 million fine.

Dell has also named Koninklijke Philips Electronics NV, BenQ Corp., Samsung Electronics Co., Sony Corp., and Toshiba Corp. as defendants in the lawsuit.

Dell is the largest private employer in Central Texas, with about 14,000 workers in the area. The company is the third-largest personal computer manufacturer in the world and is number 38 on the Fortune 500 list of large publicly-traded and closely-held companies. The company was founded by Michael Dell in Austin in 1984 and is one of the world’s largest tech companies.

Gregory D. Jordan is a business lawyer and business litigation attorney in Austin, TX. To learn more, visit http://www.theaustintriallawyer.com or call 512-419-0684.