Iowa has joined with 33 other states in a lawsuit against eight manufacturers of computer memory chips. Bob Brammer, a spokesman for Iowa’s Attorney General, says the companies tried to artificially push up the price of their memory chips.
Brammer says the companies conspired to fix prices from 1998 to June of 2002. He says the lawsuit seeks penalties, prohibition on future illegal conduct, and damages.
Brammer says this civil lawsuit follows federal criminal action. He says federal officials got guilty pleas from most of the companies and some 700-million dollars in fines. Brammer says the states are seeking some restitution from the companies in the civil action.
Brammer says the civil suit has another purpose. Brammer says it sends a message that you can’t have price fixing among competitors to drive up the price of a product. Brammer says the companies involved in the suit are: Elpida, Hynix, Infineon, Micron, Mosel Vitelic, Nanya, and NEC. Brammer says they supplied memory chips to all major manufacturers of computers.