A class action is a lawsuit filed by one person on behalf of a large group of people.

Class action lawsuits were commenced in Canada alleging that the defendants illegally conspired to fix the prices of ODD (collectively, the “ODD Proceedings”). The cases include Canadian residents in all provinces and territories who were affected by the alleged conspiracy.

A settlement is when a Defendant agrees to pay money to the members of the class action in exchange for being released from the case.

Settlements were reached with the following groups of Defendants:

All of these settlements have received court approval. The settling Defendants do not admit any wrongdoing or liability. The settlements resolve the proceedings in full.

The settlements achieved in this litigation total approximately CDN $29.7 million. The aggregate settlement funds, plus any costs awards and interest, and less court-approved legal fees, disbursements, administration expenses, and applicable taxes (“Net Settlement Amount”), are available for compensation to eligible Settlement Class Members (defined below). 

The British Columbia and Quebec courts approved a protocol for distributing the Net Settlement Amount. A copy of the Distribution Protocol is available on the Documents page.

An Optical Disc Drive is any device which reads and/or writes data from and to an optical disk, including but not limited to, CD‐ROMs, CD‐recordable/rewritable, DVD‐ROM, DVD recordable/rewritable, Blu‐Ray, Blu‐Ray‐recordable/rewritable, and HD DVD, as well as Super Multi‐Drives, other combination drives, and optical disk drives designed to be attached externally to computers or other devices.

An “ODD Product” is a desktop computer, mobile/laptop computer, videogame console, CD player/recorder, DVD player/recorder and Blu‐Ray disc player/recorder.

Settlement Class Members are eligible to file a claim. Settlement Class Members are all persons in Canada who purchased ODDs or ODD Products between January 1, 2004 and January 1, 2010, except the Defendants and certain parties related to the Defendants.

Settlement Class Members can claim with respect to all ODDs or ODD Products purchased, regardless of the manufacturer or brand.

Subject to further court order, approved undocumented claims will be paid $20 (per valid claim, not per item purchased).

The Net Settlement Amount remaining after paying undocumented claims will be distributed to eligible Settlement Class Members pro rata (proportionately) based on the value of the Settlement Class Member’s claim, as compared to the value of all qualifying Settlement Class Members’ claims. Because settlement benefits are being distributed pro rata, the amount payable to individual claimants will not be known until after the claims process is complete.

For Settlement Class Member’s submitting Documented Claims, the claim value will be calculated based on:

(a) the number and type of ODDs or ODD Products purchased; and

(b) your position in the distribution chain.

Your ODDs or ODD Products purchased will be calculated based on the following values:

•  ODDs will be valued at 100% of their purchase price
•  ODD Products will be valued at the following amounts:

Settlement Class Members will be categorized into purchaser groups depending on their position in the distribution chain. Settlement Class Members can fall within multiple purchaser groups. The purchaser groups are as follows:

See FAQ#10 for an example calculation.

If you purchased ODDs or ODD Products to use yourself, or to use in your business, that is “personal use”.

If you purchased ODDs or ODD Products in order to sell them to others for a commercial purpose, and not to use yourself or in your business, that is “resale use”.

If a Settlement Class Member purchased $100,000 worth of ODDs directly from Defendants for resale and 10 computers directly from Defendants for its own use, its Assessed Purchases would be $25,250, calculated as follows:

$100,000 (the value of ODDs purchased) x 0.25 (the percentage applied to Direct Purchaser Reseller)

+

10 (the number of computers) x $25 (the assigned value of an ODD within a computer) x 100% (the percentage applied to Direct Purchaser End Users)

= Assessed Purchases of $25,250.

Assuming the value of all qualifying Settlement Class Members’ Assessed Purchases totalled $10 million, this Settlement Class Member would be entitled to 0.2525% (25,250/10 million) of the Net Settlement Funds remaining after Undocumented Claims are paid out.

Notwithstanding the above and subject to further order of the British Columbia court, all Settlement Class Members with valid claims will receive a minimum payment of $20. The $20 valuation target is not an estimate of any damages suffered. It is a minimum administrative threshold designed to maintain a feasible economic and administrative platform for the settlement distribution.

Please note that if an individual Settlement Class Member elects to receive payment by cheque instead of by e-transfer, $2 will be deducted from that Settlement Class Member’s minimum payment to reflect the cost of issuing a cheque.

You may contact the Claims Administrator to request a paper claim form if needed.

Eligible claims must be submitted by November 14, 2022.

No, you do not need to provide proof of purchase with your claim. Subject to further court order, approved undocumented claims will be paid $20 (per valid claim, not per item purchased).

Settlement Class Members who wish to be eligible to receive more than $20 must provide proof of purchase. However, even if you provide proof of purchase, if you purchased a small volume of ODDs and/or ODD Products you may not receive more than $20. This will depend on the number and size of claims filed.

Relying on Defendants’ data: Where possible, Settlement Class Members will be able to rely on the Defendants’ sales records to establish their purchases. Where available, this information will be provided by email or letter by the Claims Administrator and will be pre-populated on the online claims portal. Settlement Class Members who exclusively rely on Defendants’ sales data will not be required to provide further proof of purchase.

Relying on purchase records: Where sales data is not available and/or a Settlement Class Member claims for purchases of ODDs or ODD Products in addition to those substantiated by the Defendants’ data, the Settlement Class Member must provide proof of purchase. This may take the form of:

• invoices, receipts, delivery or packing slips, purchase records, or historical accounting records; or
• a declaration attesting to the units purchased, together with substantiating documentation that is acceptable to the Claims Administrator. See paragraph 19(b) of the Distribution Protocol for more detailed requirements.

Extrapolating purchases: Where a Settlement Class Member does not have all purchase records for the period between January 1, 2004 and January 1, 2010, the Settlement Class Member can extrapolate its ODD or ODD Product purchases based on existing purchase records between January 1, 2004 and January 1, 2010, or after that period. The Settlement Class Member must provide the basis of the extrapolation and proof that the Settlement Class Member was fully operational during the period in which the purchases are being extrapolated.

Payment to Settlement Class Members with approved undocumented claims for the minimum $20 payment is expected to occur 2-3 months after the claim deadline.  Please check this website for regular updates on the expected timing of the payments.

Payments to Settlement Class Members with approved documented claims will be made as soon as practicable after the claims evaluations and any appeals are completed. This process will likely take 6-12 months, but could be longer depending on appeals.

For individual claimants, payments will be made by e-transfer or cheque.

If you elect to receive payment by e-transfer, please save your claim ID number as that will be the answer to the security question that will be required to complete your e-transfer. Your claim ID number will be sent by email from [email protected] 1-5 days before the e-transfer is sent. Please add [email protected] to your Safe Senders list, which will ensure that emails about your payment do not go to your junk mail or spam folder. If you have signed up for direct deposit with your bank, your payment will be automatically deposited.

Where an individual Settlement Class Member elects to receive payment by cheque, $2 will be deducted from that Settlement Class Member’s payment to reflect the cost of issuing a cheque.

For commercial claimants, payments will be issued by cheque or, at the discretion of the Claims Administrator, wire transfer.

The courts have appointed RicePoint Administration Inc. (an independent third party) to receive and review claims, determine eligibility for payments, and issue payments to eligible Settlement Class Members.

Questions regarding the claims process should be directed to RicePoint Administration Inc. at 1-800-296-7759 or [email protected].

The law firms of Camp Fiorante Matthews Mogerman LLP and Siskinds LLP represent Settlement Class Members in all provinces other than Quebec:

Camp Fiorante Matthews Mogerman LLP can be reached at:

Telephone: 1‐800‐689‐2322
Email: [email protected]
Mail: 4^th floor, 856 Homer Street, Vancouver, BC V6B 2W5, Attention: Sharon Wong

Siskinds LLP can be reached at:

Telephone: 1-800-461-6166
Email: [email protected]
Mail: 275 Dundas Street, Unit1, London, ON N6B 3L1, Attention: Charles Wright

The law firm of Consumer Law Group Inc. represents Settlement Class Members in Quebec.

Consumer Law Group Inc. can be reached at:

Telephone: 514‐266‐7863 
Email: [email protected]
Mail: 1030 rue Berri, Suite 102, Montreal, QC, H2L 4C3, Attention: Jeff Orenstein

You do not need to pay out-of-pocket for the lawyers working on the class actions. The lawyers were paid from the settlement funds in the amount approved by the courts.

More information about the settlements, the distribution of the settlement funds and the claims process is available on the Documents page, by email at [email protected] or by calling toll-free 1-800-296-7759.

Your etransfer password is the first 8 numbers of your claim ID. When you submitted your claim, a confirmation email was sent confirming your claim ID. We also sent a reminder email on June 26th, please check your email inbox and junk folder for an email from [email protected].

If you are not able to locate your Claim ID, please call us at 1-800-296-7759.