DRAM cartel settles with European Commission, will pay €331 million fine
By Sean Hollister 
posted May 20th 2010 2:57AM
posted May 20th 2010 2:57AM
posted May 20th 2010 2:57AM
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So is this why RAM has come down in price in recent years?
@Plazmic Flame What? Prices have almost doubled where I'm from
@Plazmic Flame
Prices seem high to me :(
@Plazmic Flame
Ram prices have doubled in the UK in the past year :(
NewEgg's prices doubled sometime in the last year also. i bought 2x2GB of 800MHz DDR2 laptop memory around january of '09 for $40, and early this year i found out that the exact same model's price had risen to about $80. i have no idea why, this stuff is supposed to get cheaper.
@Plazmic Flame
Umm....DDR2's hayday is over, hence supply wanes and price goes up.
DDR3, on the other hand, has gone down in price, or at least stayed the same
the EU has to make up for that recent bailout some how.
@sgtbrapp 300 million ≠ 300 billion
@Oli D
300 million euros > 0 euros
its gotta help at least a tiny bit.
Ah, they'll just lay off a bunch of employees somewhere to make themselves feel better.
@Unimaginative
And therein lies the problem. People at the bottom of the totem pole who probably had nothing to do with the price fixing nor had any knowledge of it are going to be penalized by those at the top to protect their profit margins. Samsung stands to lose about a third of their "off year" profit. Sure, profit is what you figure after all the janitors and secretaries are paid, but that isn't going to stop the ladies and gentlemen at the top of the company from cutting jobs down low to protect their profits. Poor ethics lead to undesirable outcomes.
Well when do they refund the buyer. Or do we have to send in a claim lol...
@atc9000
Exactly... Who's bank account is receiving all that money? How will it be spent?
@Kyzgar All the people living in the EU...
they must have been bloody rich.... and bored
so no Dr. Evil jokes, anyone?
ummm 8gb of DDR3 1333 for $150US newegg last october,,, that is not expensive!!!! I remember paying $400 for 128MB of SDRAM not that long ago~ Price fix my dingle, ram is not expensive!
@cosmicinglewood The price fix this case dealt with operated between 1998 and 2002. That $400 SDRAM could well have been so expensive because of this cartel.
@cosmicinglewood
Read the article, the Euro price fixing still existed (Exists IMHO) after the US fine, hence the slap on the wrist.
iPad
@Mr Good Kat Dude, your shout made me laugh :D [+] for that.
Well at least EU cares somewhat about cartels. The United States and Canada don't seem to give a damn about the North American Telecom Cartel.
Got to love the EU for that :D
I fail to see how this will benefit cowsumers. The fine will get the commission money. Good for them, not necessarily for cowsumers. No doubt the manufacturers will maintain prices to make up for the loss, bad for cowsumers.
Its like your employer getting mugged on your behalf but the mugger gets the benefit, not you..
So does that mean that I'll receive a 2nd set of Memory modules if I bought something in that timeframe or a cheque...
Wishful thinking
Too bad 'The Informant' wasn't about RAM price fixing :D
The fines probably barely cover the court costs.
Lawsuits like this have to be paid by the companies/corporations at fault who then pass the cost on to the consumer. At least this suit was not a total farce like the MS ie suit.