14 DAY TRIAL // It appears that the legal dispute against two of the largest graphics card manufacturers, AMD's subsidiary ATI and the Santa-Clara, California-based NVIDIA, regarding price fixing, has finally come to an end. Both companies have agreed to pay approximately $2 million in order to settle the antitrust lawsuit regarding price fixing of graphics cards.
The settlement implies that each of the two companies pay $850,000, for a total of $1.7 million that will go into a fund to be made available for payments to the certified class in exchange for a dismissal of all claims related to the legal dispute. Under the terms of the agreement, the users that have purchased their graphics cards directly from the websites of ATI and NVIDIA in the United States during December 4, 2002 and November 7, 2008, will receive compensations. The exact number of people to be compensated is not currently available. Also, the agreement is subject to court approval, but if approved, would dispose of all claims brought by the certified class against ATI and NVIDIA.
In addition, the two graphics card makers have also reached an agreement with the individual indirect purchaser plaintiffs in the action. The two companies have agreed to pay $112,500 each, in order for the claims against the companies, brought by the individual indirect purchaser plaintiffs, to be dismissed. Back on July 18, the District Court denied a motion seeking that all indirect purchasers in the United States that have acquired a graphics card equipped with an NVIDIA or ATI GPU be entitled to compensations.
The class action against NVIDIA and ATI involving price fixing dates back to 2006. One of the main documents used in the legal dispute was a 2002 email from NVIDIA's senior VP of marketing, Dan Vivoli, to ATI's president and CEO, Dave Orton. “I really think we should work harder together on the marketing front. As you and I have talked about, even though we are competitors, we have the common goal of making our category a well positioned, respected playing field. $5 and $8 stocks are a result of no respect”, wrote Vivoli.