Hewlett-Packard has filed suit against seven of the largest optical drive makers in the world, accusing them of colluding to artificially inflate market prices over a six-year period. The hardware titan, which bought billions of dollars worth of drives in that timeframe, says that it has fallen victim to the conspiracy.

“HP paid higher prices for [optical disk drives] than it would have paid in a competitive market as a direct result of defendants’ and their co-conspirators’ unlawful conduct,” the suit reads. “HP brings this action to recover for injury to its business and property arising from billions of dollars of purchases of optical disk drives… at artificially inflated prices over several years.”

In two separate antitrust complaints filed with a federal court in Houston, where HP’s supply chain procurement operation is based, the company accuses the vendors of using tradeshows such as CES to pass on competitive information and coordinate their prices. The suit further alleges that the suppliers entered into agreements to set prices for drives sold to manufacturers in the U.S., including HP and Dell.

The lead defendants are Toshiba and LG. They are joined by Samsung, Sony, NEC, Panasonic. TEAC, Quanta Storage, Philips, Lite-On IT, BenQ, Pioneer and Sharp, as well as a number of joint ventures. Together, these companies control 90 percent of the global market for optical disk drives.

HP is seeking unspecified triple damages and an injunction against the companies. The lawsuit is based on a 2011 criminal case brought by the Department of Justice against HLDS, a joint venture between Hitachi and LC. As part of a settlement, the vendor admitted to engaging in “felonious price-fixing conduct with co-conspirators” between November 2005 and March 2009.