Electronics giants accused of price fixing

Sony for one is already under investigation for price fixing

LG, Sony, Samsung, Toshiba and Hitachi, along with several subsidiaries, have been accused of price fixing in the US optical disc drive market.

Consumer electronics store Prisco Electronic Company alleged that the firms colluded to "fix, raise, maintain and stabilise the price of optical disk drive products sold in the US", according to a filing with the California Northern Federal District Court.

"These defendants have a long history of engaging in anti-competitive conduct, such as DRAM, TFT-LCDs and CRTs," it added.

"When the price of optical disc drives began to dip, the defendants entered into an illegal agreement to prevent competitors from entering into the market and to keep prices at a supra-competitive level."

Prisco is seeking an injunction to prevent future price fixing activities.

The US Department of Justice launched an investigation in October into anti-competitive practices in the optical disk drive market, issuing a subpoena to Sony subsidiary Sony Optiarc.

Sony said at the time that it would co-operate fully with the investigations into price-fixing, bid-rigging and allocation of markets.