On September 20,the legal advisers of Bridgestone America ,Continental America ,Good year ,Mechelin North America, Nokia Tire and Pirelli Tire submitted and application to the Aklon Federal District Count .
Earlier this year ,these six major tire adaptors were sured for price mainpulation charges .At present ,they have asked the federal judge who supervised the cases to dismiss the allegations on the grounds that the the plaintiff failed to provide any credible evidence to support their claims .
Antitrust cases from consumers ,car dealers and other buyers accused these six tire companies of " artificially raising ,fixing ,maintaining or stabilising tire prices sold in the United States ." Precision amplifier .
In their joint court documents ,tire manufacturers called these claims "fat-fetched "and said that the plaintiff tried to create a conspiracy out of thin air without evidence support .
Tire manufacturers argue that their pricing decision are "rational and competitive behaviour in concentrated market .
The plaintiff's claim was first filed in February ,after it was reported that Eurpean Commission was conducing an antitrust investigation into certain tire manufacturers .
In an 87-page document submitted to the court on September 20,six tire manufacturers said:"After six months, the plaintiff's revised and consolidated complaints have a total of 352 pages ,and there are still no facts to prove their far-fetched conspiracy theories .There is no fully defended charge to prove what the defendant degreed to do.
"The plaintiff attributed different market characteristics to the accusation of the tire industry is not enough to create a conspiracy out of thin air .The tire industry is a centralised oligopoly industry ,which is widely accused of high barriers to entry ,inelastic demand and high interchangeability.Which can be applied to many industries .These accusations only show in different ways that the tire market prone to legal parallel behaviour .
Regarding the investiagtion of the European Commission ,The document points out that : The continental Competition Law is different from U.S Antimonopoly Law .Legally speaking ,the European Commission 's investigation is not enough to infer illegal agreements under U.S federal and state laws.
"This is especially true here ,because the plaintiff claims that no miscounduct was found -just a "preliminary " investigation ,which did not pre-judgement of the results of the investigation " Continental Tire and Nuoji Tire have filed separately to dismiss the plaintiff 's charges on their own .
