price-fixing
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Sony Optiarc garners unwanted attention from DOJ for possible Blu-ray or DVD price fixing
In a filing with the Tokyo Stock Exchange this morning, Sony has revealed a request for information from the US Department of Justice regarding its optical drive production arm, Sony Optiarc. While the same filing indicates the Japanese giant's belief that this information gathering is part of a wider investigation into competition in the optical drive market, we've yet to hear of any other companies facing the same request. If you were feeling disgruntled with the pace of Blu-ray price drops, this might just be your moment of vindication... or it could be a storm in a teacup. There's really not enough information to tell either way right now, but if we know anything about the DOJ, it's that it loves shaking down naughty corporations. We'll keep a careful eye on this as it develops.
AT&T sues LG, Samsung, others alleging LCD price-fixing 'conspiracy'
A cellphone without an LCD isn't much of a cellphone. Alright, yes, there are exceptions to the rule, but generally speaking, LCDs still rule the industry, which makes it a ripe target for nefarious price-fixing schemes to take root -- something that LG and Sharp are well-acquainted with coming off a stinging half-billion dollar verdict last year. All the talk of artificially inflated display pricing recently must've spooked AT&T, because they've gone ahead and filed a lawsuit in San Francisco today alleging that LG, Samsung, Chunghua, AU Optronics, and others all conspired to boost component prices during a period in which the carrier bought some 300 million handsets. That's a boatload of phones -- several times AT&T's total subscriber base -- and we're guessing the result could be a significant cash outlay if they're successful with the suit. Does this mean free Mythics for everyone? [Via Phone Scoop]
Nintendo price-fixing fine reduced by 30 million euros
In 2002, the European Union levied a €167.8 million fine against Nintendo and a group of distributors for artificially boosting prices of Nintendo hardware and software from 1991-1998. Nintendo's share of that: €149.5 million, an amount that Nintendo described as "unfair, illegal, [and] even shocking" (and yes, we did imagine that being said in Mario's cheerful voice).Thankfully for the financially strapped company, the European Union judges who heard Nintendo's appeal agreed and have reduced Nintendo's fine to €119.4 million. Nintendo cooperated with the court, providing required documentation when asked, in response to which the court decided to award Nintendo the same discount that UK distributor John Menzies received for its cooperation.Finally, things are looking up for poor Nintendo.[Via Edge, image via Mitchelaneous]
Hitachi also admits to LCD price fixing, will pay $31m fine
Funding that stimulus package just got ever-so-slightly easier -- Hitachi is the latest company to fess up to LCD price fixing, and as part of its deal with the US Department of Justice, it's paying a $31m fine. The company has specifically admitted to fixing the prices on panels sold to Dell from 2001 to 2004, and while no Hitachi execs are due to join their comrades from LG and Chungwha Picture Tubes just yet, we'd encourage them to book their vacations now, since the DOJ seems like it's staying on the warpath.
Three more executives indicted in LCD price fixing scheme
Protip, if you were involved in LCD price fixing between 2001 - 2006, just turn yourself in because the U.S. Department of Justice is still coming. To the surprise of anyone who thought the last couple months of guilty pleas and fines were the end, a DOJ statement today spells out indictments returned by a federal grand jury in San Francisco against two former Chungwha Picture Tube execs and one from LG Display. All the legal details in the case against Cheng Yuan Lin, Wen Jun Cheng and Duk Mo Koo are in the statement beyond the read link, but hey man, we're still waiting on our refunds.[Via Reuters]
LG, Chunghwa Picture Tubes execs to serve jail time for LCD price fixing conspiracy
LG and Chunghwa Picture Tubes already confessed to being involved in a scandalous LCD price fixing conspiracy, and now the US Department of Justice is laying down the hammer on four of the dirty-handed executives. Chang Suk Chung (LG), Chieng-Hon "Frank" Lin (Chunghwa), Chih-Chun "C.C." Liu (Chunghwa) and Hsueh-Lung "Brian" Lee (Chunghwa) have all entered plea agreements which will see them serving a "term of imprisonment" as well as paying a criminal fine and assisting the US government in its ongoing TFT-LCD investigation. 'Course, those pleas must all be approved by the court, but it's pretty safe to say these fellows will be spending a least a moment or two behind steel bars. Fun, fun.[Via DigitalTrends]
The obvious truth about text messaging: you're getting ripped off
C'mon folks, does it really take an in-depth research study to figure this one out? On the whole, per-use SMS rates have doubled from $0.10 to $0.20 in the span of three years, and carriers have shown no shame in pushing messaging packs (the "unlimited" one in particular) in an effort to snag more revenue per user. We already knew that Senator Herb Kohl was looking into the matter, and a new piece in The New York Times clearly explains just how lucrative these bite-sized messages are for carriers. We're told that most consumers simply assume that it's costing operators more each year as the volume of texts sent increases; according to University of Waterloo professor Srinivasan Keshav, "it doesn't cost the carrier much more to transmit a hundred million messages than a million." You see, SMS messages are elusively hidden within the so-called "control channel," which is space already reserved for the operation of the wireless network. So long as messages are kept concise (say, 160 characters or less), they can be sent without any real implication on the channel. Will this epiphany somehow change the way we're being gouged? Tough to say, but don't think for a second that carriers won't figure out another way to nickle-and-dime you if the hand is forced.[Thanks, Jeevan]
DS screen manufacturer accused of price fixing
We reported back in February that Sharp and Hitachi, two tech industry juggernauts who are responsible for supplying the DS with its LCD screens, were under investigation for their suspected collusion to control the price of said screens. Earlier this week, the Japan Fair Trade Commission concluded their investigation, and accused Sharp of violating the nation's "Antimonopoly Act", ultimately fining the company 261.07 million yen ($3 million).In a statement delivered on Thursday, Sharp agreed to "strengthen [their] effort of compliance with law and business ethics," though they denied that they participated in activities that violated the Antimonopoly Act, stating that two manufacturers alone would be unable to control the market in the manner the JFTC has accused them of. They stated that they are looking into their "next steps," and are considering a hearing request.
Sharp, LG to pay big fines for LCD price fixing
There may have been a long shot in Hades that Sharp and LG would navigate their way out of paying a full $120 million / $400 million fine for their respective roles in a recent LCD price fixing bust, but that shot has apparently failed. It was announced this week that both firms would indeed be sentenced to pay the full fine "for their role in a price-fixing scheme that forced millions of US consumers to overpay for gadgets using liquid-crystal displays." The other culprit, Taiwan's Chunghwa Picture Tubes, has already agreed to plead guilty to criminal charges and will be sentenced in January. Happy holidays, huh?
LG, Sharp plead guilty to LCD price-fixing, take $585m fine
Allegations of LCD price-fixing have been swirling around for years now, and it looks like at least some of the companies involved have dirt on their hands -- LG, Sharp and Chunghwa Picture Tubes have all just pled guilty to price-fixing in a case filed by the US Department of Justice and will pay a combined $585m fine. LG's taking the biggest hit at $400m for conspiring to fix prices from September 2001 to June 2006, while Sharp's on the hook for $120m for jacking prices on panels sold to Dell, Motorola and Apple during the same time frame. Naughty, naughty. It also sounds like this plea agreement is more than just a sterile attempt to cut losses -- Sharp's exec staff is taking a 10 to 30 percent pay cut for three months as punishment to reassure its shareholders. Sounds like a plan -- how about refunding some of that cash to us chumps out here buying your overpriced products?
NVIDIA details settlement for price fixing fiasco
Way back in December of 2006, NVIDIA and AMD were both pegged for potential price fixing, and nearly two years later it seems it'll finally be paying the piper. A settlement agreement is detailed in a recently filed 8-K form, which asserts that NVIDIA would pay $850,000 into a total fund of up to $1.7 million, with AMD / ATI probably left to make up the rest. Of note, the 8-K filing does mention that all of this is still "subject to court approval," but it's likely that the green light will eventually be given. Outside of that, we're also informed that NVIDIA will be handing over $112,500 to the individual plaintiffs who brought the case to court. Well, we're glad that's settled.[Via CustomPC]
Nintendo unhappy about price-fixing ruling
In 2002, the European Commission fined Nintendo (and seven distributors presumably associated with the company) 167.8 million Euros ($262 million), after ruling that Nintendo failed to regulate the prices set by distributors between 1991 and 1998.Unsurprisingly, Nintendo is displeased. They're protesting the fine with the European Court of First Instance. "The penalty was unfair, illegal, even shocking," Nintendo lawyer Ian Forrester told the court, referring to the fine as "one of the biggest single fines in EU competition law."We doubt that anyone in Europe who has ever purchased a video game would be surprised to hear that some pricing-related trickery could have been going on.[Via Game|Life]
DS LCD screen makers investigated for price fixing
When video game makers fix prices for consumers, it's considered the normal state of business. When LCD makers fix prices for game makers, they get raided by the Japanese Fair Trade Commission. So it goes.AFP has the report on the investigation on screen-makers Sharp and Hitachi, which have long been suspected of organizing a bid-rigging cartel to limit price competition for portable screens. Between them, the two companies provide all the LCD screens used in the Nintendo DS, though Nintendo couldn't confirm that they were the ones that complained to the commission. No one else involved, included the commission itself, had much comment on the actual investigation, but if it bears any fruit you'll be sure to read about it here.[Via Engadget]
A DS Lite screen cartel?
Japan's Fair Trade Commission has conducted an investigation of Sharp and Hitachi Displays Ltd. in response to accusations that the two companies have unfairly fixed prices of LCD displays for DS Lites (in what AFX News Kaori Kaneko referred to as a "cartel"). The organization searched both companies' offices, presumably for physical evidence in the form of documentation or company communications about some kind of price fixing scheme. Nintendo spokesperson said that the company is "not aware of the reported allegations," and it is as of yet unknown who made the accusation. We kind of wonder who else it would be, if not someone at Nintendo. This is an antitrust issue in which prices are unfairly set for exactly one entity -- Nintendo. It had to be the one thing Nintendo decided to use two of.[Via NeoGAF]
Hitachi, Sharp raided on DS screen price fixing suspicions
Price fixing isn't ever fun -- unless you're the company doing it and expect to get away with it, and then it's like a total blast, dude. But hopefully that isn't actually the case with Sharp and Hitachi, whose offices were apparently raided by the Japanese Fair Trade Commission on suspicion of fixing display prices for the DS; Nintendo's throw its hands up in the air exclaiming that it was unaware of the supposed screen cartel, and something else about just when they thought were out, they got pulled back in.Update: A spokesperson for Nintendo of America commented that "The Fair Trade Commission in Japan conducted on the spot investigations with Sharp and Hitachi Displays in Japan with the suspicion that these two companies formed a cartel regarding the prices of LCDs that they sold to Nintendo. At this point in time, Nintendo is not in a position to make any comments on this, except to confirm that Nintendo itself is not being investigated by the FTC."
NVIDIA faces barrage of civil lawsuits
Those price fixing allegations that AMD and NVIDIA were facing late last year may have vanished from the forefront of your memory, but you can rest assured that the legal teams connected to the two are still workin' overtime to clean things up. Apparently, NVIDIA has been slapped with as many as 51 civil complaints over "price fixing and anti-competitive agreements, among other things," and on its March 16th filing with the SEC, the firm states that "42 civil complaints as of March 14 were filed against it on the same allegations." Notably, the outfit did state that the "lawsuits are putative class-actions," and unsurprisingly felt that they were all lacking merit and would be fought vigorously. Tsk, Tsk.[Via Gearlog]
Sony, others named in video tape price-fixing scheme
Seems we can't have a month go by without another industry-wide price fixing scandal. Today's cartel was bent on fixing the prices of professional-grade video tapes used in television. An infamous list of swindles which includes DRAM, LCDs, and online-music just to name a few. While the EU regulators citied "several companies," only Sony would confirm that they were charged with the crime. Fingers are also wagging in the direction of Panasonic, Fujifilm, Hitachi Maxell and TDK but all declined to comment on the matter. So innocent until proven guilty, mkay. The EU's charges are based on raids it made in 2002 as well as information received since, under a leniency program. Companies now have two months to respond. If guilty, companies could be fined as much as 10% of their annual global sales. Oh my.
Samsung coughs up $90 million more for DRAM price-fixing
If you (or Samsung) thought this whole "DRAM price-fixing disaster" was finished, apparently that's just not the case anymore, as it looks like the semiconductor giant will be coughing up an additional $90 million "to settle litigation brought by 41 US states pertaining to Samsung's alleged participation in a global DRAM price-fixing conspiracy." Yes, the company has already been hit with a $300 million fine and watched a trio of its own execs hit the big house, but this $90 million is supposed to "benefit victims that paid artificially high prices for personal computers and other high-tech equipment that contained the chips." Additionally, it was stated that $10 million was reserved for the states and localities to "recover their losses," while the other chunk would be split amongst the throngs of "consumers and other victims." No other details about the payout were mentioned, and while it wasn't stated for certain, we can assume that this final penalty will indeed be the last, but all this grief that Samsung has received most likely has all those other potential price fixers squirming.
LCD makers under price-fixing investigation
In light of our recent post about another Samsung exec falling on his sword in the DRAM price-fixing scandal and the current DoJ scrutiny of the graphics card industry, commetor, otakucode, reminds us about the developing LCD antitrust story. (Maybe this will take our minds off the SRAM incident.)LCD screens are becoming commodities, being produced for phones, TVs, computers, game systems, MP3 players, and many more devices. With the screens being so common, their cost -- and profit -- naturally falls, so what's a little collusion among friends?LG.Philips, Samsung, Sharp, and others have been contacted by authorities in the U.S., Europe, Japan, and/or Korea about working together to keep LCD prices high; so far, the investigation relates to devices from 2003 and 2004.We always thought LCDs were expensive, especially a few years ago. We're interested in finding out if we're just miserly or if the prices have been artificially high. Probably both.Read:LCD Price-Fixing Investigation Goes GlobalUPDATE: Regulatory Probe of LCD Market Widens[Thanks, otakucode!]
Samsung executive fixed pricing for chips in Apple computers
A Samsung executive will pay a quarter-million dollar fine and serve almost a year in prison after pleading guilty to memory chip price fixing. He violated the Sherman Antitrust Act when Samsung colluded with other companies to fix DRAM chip prices. Four other memory makers have been charged as well. The memory sales in question date back almost five years and were used in Apple, HP and Gateway computers.
