The ones involved must be important if the EC is getting into the matter

Jul 24, 2012 13:06 GMT  ·  By
An ASUS external DVD drive. The company may or may not be among those under investigation
   An ASUS external DVD drive. The company may or may not be among those under investigation

We live in sad times indeed if a lawsuit can be considered a breath of fresh air, but the one started by the European Commission gets that label from us by virtue of not being a massive war waged over trivial reasons.

What we have here is an investigation by the European Commission into the activities of 13 makers and sellers of optical disk drives.

The defendants haven't been mentioned by name, but they surely aren't small fries if the EC, of all bodies, is getting involved.

So far, only the Statement of Objection has been issued, which means that evidence has to be gathered before charges can be formally filed.

“The Commission takes the preliminary view that the companies concerned engaged for at least five years in bid rigging, which is one of the most serious breaches of EU antitrust rules,” the EC states.

“This behaviour, if established, may have ultimately affected customers that bought optical disk drives manufactured by the companies concerned.”