NVIDIA details settlement for price fixing fiasco
By Darren Murph 
posted Sep 28th 2008 9:36PM
posted Sep 28th 2008 9:36PM
Way back in December of 2006, NVIDIA and AMD were both pegged for potential price fixing, and nearly two years later it seems it'll finally be paying the piper. A settlement agreement is detailed in a recently filed 8-K form, which asserts that NVIDIA would pay $850,000 into a total fund of up to $1.7 million, with AMD / ATI probably left to make up the rest. Of note, the 8-K filing does mention that all of this is still "subject to court approval," but it's likely that the green light will eventually be given. Outside of that, we're also informed that NVIDIA will be handing over $112,500 to the individual plaintiffs who brought the case to court. Well, we're glad that's settled.[Via CustomPC]
The thought of a company as up to its eyeballs in debt as AMD paying fines for "price fixing" is somewhat ammusing to me.
Even funnier is, that's the same claim they are making about Intel
I wouldn't blame AMD to be fully at fault. It was Between ATI and Nvidia. Now that AMD and ATI have merged it would be AMD's liability but You shouldn't compare the competitive monopoly of what Intel did.
So what does this mean for the average GeForce/Radeon owner?
Nothing for past owners, but future owners can be assured that the price they pay will be market value.
It'll be market value as long as more deregulation doesn't occur. The rights of consumers are few and far between. The avenues with which those consumers can nail Big Business is even fewer and farther between.
too bad we'll never see any of that money they were fined
i got a letter in the mail a few weeks ago about this i think. if i wanted to be opted out of the lawsuit i was supposed to mail back the letter. since i purchased ati products within the dates stated i didn't. maybe i will see it, but i won't hold my breath.
now if only they would get the defective gpu issue resolved, and quit lying to everyone
I sent my 1420n in for repair 4 times in a row. Don't let them give you crap.
Bleh, keep forgetting I just kept the fourth box 'cause they somehow accidentally replaced the right part. I only actually sent it in three times.
Still, you get what I mean.
Had my M1330 fail after 5 months, and the lack of sheer outrage and people not calling/emailing complaints to NVIDIA and PC makers on a mass scale is getting ridiculous.
[shameless plug]
http://digg.com/hardware/NVIDIA_ignoring_it_s_defective_laptop_GPUs
[/shameless plug]
*wants some money/free graphics cards*
so cheaper prices right? lol lets hope. even if they learn from this and do drop prices, on current and future products, due to actual competition again it probably wont be much... but who knows. i cant wait to see what results from this
If this went by the standard script for this kind of case, AMD and NVidia payed will pay a drop in the bucket compared to how much they benefited from the deal. In other words, this will change anything. They'll just be more careful next time.
And AMD is suing Intel for the same thing. AMD and NVIDIA are in last place so who cares if they price fix it's only going to screw them later.
Thats what i go to school for!
lol i was wondering if anyone else had noticed that, pure genius engadget, I tip my hat to you
Anyone care to elaborate?
Isn't 1.8 Million like a quarter to these guys? A quarter is probably about the amount most people who were affected by this will get once it's divided up as well.
Considering the firm made 797 million dollars last year, somehow I doubt this is going to drastically effect their numbers. It's basically a financial slap on the wrist.
Back in my gaming days, I bought a ton of graphics cards from NVIDIA. I'm glad to see them get nailed for price fixing.