The American Authorities concerning competition have just launched a large investigation aimed at Hitachi, Toshiba and Sony via its Optiarc division (held jointly with NEC). They seek to assemble evidence needed to prove that these companies cooperated in an illegal way in order to fix the prices of the optical products, readers and burners.
In actual fact, after a large drop in price, the prices of DVD burners, readers and Blu-ray burners stabilized while at the same time the world broke down around them. If the antitrust authorities launch a large scale investigation, it indicates that they have already the beginnings of evidence. The accused companies thus await heavy sentences as has already been the case for other computer related components such as LCD screens.
