Sony Faces Antitrust Probe by US Government over Optical Drives

Sony Corp, one of Japan’s largest electronic manufacturers, revealed on Monday that US antitrust regulators are now looking into possible trade violations it has committed in relation with its optical disc drive operations in the country.

“Antitrust watchdogs in the US are now looking into Sony Opticarc America for possible trade violations committed. We are also now readying for other regulators to follow suit,” company officials in Japan said.

It was learned the Opticarc is the Sony’s supplier for the lineup of optical disc drives used in most of its CD-ROMs, CD-R, DVD, and Blu-ray Disc.

In line with this, the US Justice Department antitrust division has issued a subpoena against the electronic giant seeking for alleged violations. The government has also asked Sony to produce documents that would provide clear information about the state of competition in optical drives.

Asked about which countries are going to follow the US regulator’s review, Sony spokesperson said that they will hold further comments until the matter is brought up in court.Also, company officials declined to reveal what products are affected by the investigation. They also failed to discuss whether or not the popular Blue-ray discs are included in the said probe.

It was learned that Sony has posted a one percent increase in Tokyo’s electrical machinery index and shares went spiking up by 2.3 percent or 2, 730 yen in September.