Appeals Court Revives Price-Fixing Claim Against Japanese Firm

Japanese manufacturer NHK Spring Co. Ltd. must face revived claims that it inflated the cost of key hard disk drive components, after the Ninth Circuit concluded the company’s conduct had a direct negative effect on US commerce.

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Thursday vacated a district court’s 2023 partial summary judgment for NHK, saying that Seagate Technology LLC’s “theory of domestic effects might be viable.”

Americans were harmed by NHK’s price-fixing, “even if foreign companies are the ones suing based on their injuries suffered abroad,” Judge Kenneth Kiyul Lee said.

Seagate’s suit said NHK conspired ...