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INFORMATION FOR LAWYERS LOOKING FOR LEGAL EXPERTISE IN BC AND CANADA

Optical Disc Drive Price Fixing

Case Name:

Neil Godfrey. v. Sony Corporation et al.

Court:

Supreme Court of British Columbia

Date Filed:

September 27, 2010

Class Members:

Non-Umbrella Purchasers: All persons resident in Canada who purchased optical disc drives (“ODD”) manufactured or supplied by the defendants in this action, or products that contain ODD (“ODD Products”) in which the ODD was manufactured or supplied by the defendants in this action, in the period from January 1, 2004 through January 1, 2010.

Umbrella Purchasers: All persons resident in Canada who purchased optical disc drives ("ODD") that were not manufactured or supplied by the defendants in this action, or products that contain ODD ("ODD Products") in which the ODD was not manufactured or supplied by the defendants in this action, in the period from January 1, 2004 through January 1, 2010.

Co-counsel:

Charles M. Wright, of Siskinds LLP

Jeff Orenstein, of Consumer Law Group

VIEW STATUS UPDATES

This class action relates to the alleged price fixing of optical disc drives (“ODD”) or products that contained ODD between January 1, 2004 and January 1, 2010.

Settlement Approval

On August 19, 2021, the BC Court certified a settlement class regarding settlements entered into with:

Quanta Storage, Inc. and Quanta Storage America, Inc. (“Quanta” and “Quanta Settlement Agreement”);
Pioneer Corporation, Pioneer North America, Inc., Pioneer Electronics (USA) Inc., Pioneer High Fidelity Taiwan Co., Ltd., and Pioneer Electronics of Canada Inc. (“Pioneer” and “Pioneer Settlement Agreement”); and
BenQ Corporation, BenQ America Corporation, and BenQ Canada Corp. (“BenQ” and “BenQ Settlement Agreement”). (collectively the “Settlement Agreements”)

The Settlement Agreements are subject to Court approval in British Columbia and Quebec. Hearings to approve the Settlement Agreements will be held as follows:

British Columbia: at the Vancouver courthouse on February 22, 2022 at 10:00 a.m.
Quebec: at the Montreal courthouse on February 23, 2022 at 9:30 a.m.

For details of the Settlement Agreements and settlement hearings, please see the Long Form Notices (English and French) located under the “Important Documents” heading on this webpage. The deadline to object is February 10, 2022.

Distribution of Net Settlement Proceeds

If the Settlement Agreements are approved, it will conclude the ODD litigation and allow for the distribution of the net settlement proceeds to class members (after deduction of all court-approved fees, costs and expenses).

The British Columbia and Quebec Courts have each previously approved an Interim Distribution Protocol for the distribution of net settlement proceeds. Copies of the approved Interim Distribution Protocols are posted below in “Important Documents”.

As the distribution has not yet occurred, Class Counsel intend to seek approval of an amended and final Distribution Protocol at the settlement approval hearings. The Proposed Amended Distribution Protocol is also posted below in “Important Documents”.

Contested Certification

This action is certified. Please see Reasons for Judgment of Mr. Justice Masuhara pronounced May 13, 2016 below. The Judgement was upheld on appeal to the BC Court of Appeal and by the Supreme Court of Canada.

You are a member of this certified class action if you are a resident of Canada and fall into one of the below categories:

Non-Umbrella Purchasers:

All persons resident in Canada who purchased optical disc drives (“ODD”) manufactured or supplied by the defendants in this action, or products that contain ODD (“ODD Products”) in which the ODD was manufactured or supplied by the defendants in this action, in the period from January 1, 2004 through January 1, 2010.

Umbrella Purchasers:

All persons resident in Canada who purchased optical disc drives (“ODD”) that were not manufactured or supplied by the defendants in this action, or products that contain ODD (“ODD Products”) in which the ODD was not manufactured or supplied by the defendants in this action, in the period from January 1, 2004 through January 1, 2010.

ODD means a device that reads and/or writes to CD-ROM, CD-R/RW, DVD-ROM, DVD-R/RW, Blu-Ray, Blu-Ray R/RW, and HD DVD.

ODD Product means computers, video game consoles and ODDs that are designed to be attached externally to devices such as computers.

For more information, please see the Long Form Notice (English and French) located under the “Important Documents” heading.

Important Documents:

For more information please contact Sharon Wong, Paralegal at (604) 689-7555 or by email at [email protected].