Court Tosses Antitrust Claim over DRAM Chips

SAN FRANCISCO (CN) - A British computer company did not make a compelling case in its antitrust class action against Micron Technology, Samsung Electronics and other computer-chip manufacturers, the 9th Circuit ruled.

Centerprise purchased DRAM (high density) memory chips outside the United States from the defendants.

Centerprise then filed an antitrust class action, alleging that the defendants conspired to fix DRAM prices in the United States. This, Centerprise alleged, caused the company to pay higher prices abroad.

Judge Fisher agreed with the district court that the American corporations' actions did not give rise to the foreign injury.

Also, Fisher wrote that the Supreme Court did not intend to use the Foreign Trade Antitrust Improvement Act to expand the scope of the Sherman Antitrust Act to foreign countries.

"Centerprise has not sufficiently alleged that the domestic effect gave rise to the foreign injury," Fisher wrote.

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