NVIDIA details settlement for price fixing fiasco

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]

[luke @ Sep 28th 2008 9:52PM]

The thought of a company as up to its eyeballs in debt as AMD paying fines for "price fixing" is somewhat ammusing to me.

[z0phi3l @ Sep 28th 2008 10:11PM]

Even funnier is, that's the same claim they are making about Intel

[Totalfixation @ Sep 29th 2008 2:33AM]

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.

[Space Ninja @ Sep 28th 2008 9:58PM]

So what does this mean for the average GeForce/Radeon owner?

[strang @ Sep 28th 2008 10:06PM]

Nothing for past owners, but future owners can be assured that the price they pay will be market value.

[BigD145 @ Sep 28th 2008 10:19PM]

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.

[EagleEyez @ Sep 28th 2008 9:57PM]

too bad we'll never see any of that money they were fined

[WixosTrix @ Sep 28th 2008 11:17PM]

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.

[Ops @ Sep 28th 2008 10:27PM]

now if only they would get the defective gpu issue resolved, and quit lying to everyone

[ethana2 @ Sep 28th 2008 11:12PM]

I sent my 1420n in for repair 4 times in a row. Don't let them give you crap.

[ethana2 @ Sep 28th 2008 11:13PM]

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.

[rudefyet @ Sep 29th 2008 4:31AM]

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]

[TehNomad @ Sep 29th 2008 5:36AM]

*wants some money/free graphics cards*

[h0tsauce @ Sep 28th 2008 11:15PM]

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

[frankXchange @ Sep 28th 2008 11:19PM]

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.

[Mark @ Sep 28th 2008 11:26PM]

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.

[koala72 @ Sep 29th 2008 12:06AM]

Thats what i go to school for!

[e2_98 @ Sep 29th 2008 3:33AM]

lol i was wondering if anyone else had noticed that, pure genius engadget, I tip my hat to you

[Hung @ Sep 29th 2008 2:55PM]

Anyone care to elaborate?

[KnuxSonic @ Sep 29th 2008 2:07PM]

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.

[NT @ Sep 29th 2008 8:44AM]

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.

[LonnieDvD @ Nov 12th 2008 6:08PM]

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.