Posted Tue Mar 16, 2010 at 03:40 PM PDT by Mike Attebery
The LCD cartel is going to see its day in court thanks to Dell’s allegations of price fixing.
Dell has sued a total of five companies with allegations of LCD price fixing. The suit deals with LCD monitors for computers, but out of the five companies being brought to court, three of them – Sharp, Hitachi, and Toshiba, also make LCD televisions.
In 2008, Sharp and LG got into some trouble over fixing prices and were forced to pay over $600 million in fines, so they’re no stranger to the charges.
The charges simply state that the five companies have gotten together and agreed on a set price for their products. Setting the price, Dell says, eliminates competition and maximizes the prices of monitors, causing the consumer to pay an unfair price.
Dell has not stated publicly what kind of damages it is looking for, and there’s no telling what the results of this suit will be. You can bet that the companies in the suit will be under close scrutiny for their LCD monitors and televisions in the future. Expect to see some prices start to shift.
Source: Wall Street Journal
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