Fujitsu faces class action over faulty drives

JAPANESE HARD drive manufacturer Fujitsu, which yesterday said it would take a ¥25 billion charge as a result of faulty hard drives, is facing a class action.

Keith Warburton, of UK trade body the PC Association, said the case was started on the 23rd of October, with both Fujitsu Computer Products (USA), HP, and "100 other unnamed defendants" facing the case.

Fujitsu and the other plaintiffs are charged with the accusation that despite knowing the MPG 3XX series of hard drives were faulty, they failed to give due warning about the problems.

The action wants damages, replacements, recalls, civil penalties, costs, lawyers' expenses and anything else that Fujitsu and the other defendants might need to stump up.

The sub class action, against HP in the US, names the Pavilion 7845 as a PC which suffered multiple failures on original and replacement Fujitsu drives.

Yesterday's report, which you can find here, mentions other third parties using defective Fujitsu drives as including IBM and Hitachi.

But it's possible the US class action could also affect resellers which used the drives, the PCA is warning. And director Keith Warburton, in a letter to his members, accused Fujitsu of an apparent lack of concern for its reseller base and other customers. Details of the class action are here. µ