After years of representing consumers against multiple defendants in multi-district litigation, the case against Toshiba went to trial. Toshiba was found guilty of price-fixing in 2012, and settled. The total settlements in the litigation exceeded $470 million.
Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro filed a class-action lawsuit against several major manufacturers of TFT LCD products, including LG Philips (NYSE:LPL) and Toshiba (TSE:6502), claiming the companies engaged in a conspiracy to fix, raise, maintain and stabilize the price of TFT LCD products.
TFT LCD means thin film transistor liquid crystal display and is a type of technology used to improve image quality in televisions, desktop and notebook computer monitors, mobile phones, personal digital assistants (PDA's) and other devices.
The companies listed in the complaint include:
LF Philips LCD, Co. Ltd, LG Philips LCD America, Inc., Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd, Sharp Corporation, Toshiba Corp., Toshiba Matsushita Display Technology Co., Ltd., Hitachi Ltd, Hitachi Displays, Ltd., Hitachi America Ltd., Hitachi Electronic Devices (USA), Inc., Sanyo Epson Imaging Devices Corp., NEC Corp., NEC LCD Technologies, Ltd., NEC Electronics America, Inc., IDT International Ltd., International Display Technology Co., Ltd., International Display Technology USA Inc., AU Optronics, AU Optronics Corp. America, Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp., Chi Mei Optoelectronics USA, Inc., Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd., and Hannstar Display Corp.
The complaint cites a number of anticompetitive tactics used by the companies listed above, including allocating among themselves and collusively reducing the production of TFT LCD products, and submitting rigged bids for the award and performance of certain TFT LCD product contracts.
