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3 Firms Confess To Fixing LCD Prices, Agree To Pay $585M Fine

Posted by timothy on from the win-friends-and-influence-people dept.

Oldyeller89 writes "LG, Sharp, and Chunghwa Picture Tubes pleaded guilty to charges of price fixing in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act. They fixed the prices on LCD screens used not only in their products but also in other products such as Apple's iPods. The three companies agreed to pay $585 million in fines. Perhaps this will cause the price of our TVs to drop?" The New York Times also has a story on the outcome of this case.

18 of 417 comments (clear)

  1. Plasma? by riceboy50 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I wonder if the price to produce a plasma television is just inherently much higher than LCD if the already generally lower prices on those were being fixed in many cases.

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    1. Re:Plasma? by LearnToSpell · · Score: 5, Insightful

      CRTs are inferior technology that have been surpassed.

      Heh. Somebody's obviously not doing any graphics work.

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      Haida Manga
    2. Re:Plasma? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Because 4:3 makes it look like it's a smiley face wearing a paper hat.

    3. Re:Plasma? by theheadlessrabbit · · Score: 5, Funny

      yea, but the colours on my LDC screen aren't nearly as good as the ones on my LSD screen.

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      -I only code in BASIC.-
  2. So how much did they make? by revlayle · · Score: 5, Insightful

    $585M in fines... so, how much did they profit before that?

    1. Re:So how much did they make? by Rinisari · · Score: 5, Insightful

      ...and how much are we the public going to see?

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      Colin Dean Go a year without DRM
    2. Re:So how much did they make? by Daimanta · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Probably a gift coupon for a $8 mouse. And a lollypop if you are lucky.

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      Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power lost.
    3. Re:So how much did they make? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      It'll be ass flavoured. So you'll know what kissing their's would taste like.

    4. Re:So how much did they make? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Except we're not in a free market. Republicans claim to be for a free market, but being pro established businesses does not a free market make. The patent system is also a big anti-free market force.

      Also, free markets don't magically remove all price fixing. It only removes price fixing if the barriers of entry are lower then the opportunities presented by the price fixing.

      And nobody has claimed free markets are perfect, just better then the alternatives.

    5. Re:So how much did they make? by spun · · Score: 5, Informative

      Imbalance of information is only one of the three major failure modes of the free market. Externalities both positive and negative, and natural monopolies are the other two.

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      - None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
  3. Price drop by Gavin+Scott · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "Perhaps this will cause the price of our TVs to drop?"

    Um, except that they just added $585,000,000.00 to their cost of production, sure.

    G.

  4. Re:Ya Know... by randyest · · Score: 5, Informative

    Chunghwa makes panels for Vizio, Syntax, and even Samsung and many others you would expect to have their own panels inside. Even Sony and Sharp have shipped products with Chunghwa panels inside, simply because they're cheaper.

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    everything in moderation
  5. Re:Hmmmm by gfxguy · · Score: 5, Funny

    U.S. Department of Justice is levying the fines, so the money goes to the US Government. The Government will use the money to help bail out banks. ... that have no liquidity because of all the people who ran up their credit cards buying LCD televisions on credit and can't pay it back.

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    Stupid sexy Flanders.
  6. Re:Ya Know... by _Sprocket_ · · Score: 5, Funny

    ... I'd expect this kind of BS from Sharp and LG but not from Chunghwa Picture Tubes.

    It's almost to be expected. After the success of "Tubthumping", they were desperate for another avenue. Sadly, they had nowhere to go but down.

  7. No price drop for you! by jvkjvk · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Perhaps this will cause the price of our TVs to drop?

    Perhaps instead they will factor this cost into their new products in attempt to recoup this lost $$.

    So the scenario is: Purchaser is hurt due to collusion and price fixing. Companies are caught. Purchaser is hurt due to fines.

    Fines are only a deterrent if they actually hurt the companies bottom lines. If they can make enough profit during the price fixing phase, and jack up enough prices during the penalty phase to more than offset the penalty there will continue to be massive collusion in such systems.

    1. Re:No price drop for you! by Prof+Dodecahedron · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Maybe they should fine the board members instead, and disallow them from receiving bonuses/stock/pay increases for 5 or 10 years. You can't punish companies but you can punish people.

  8. Re:Hmmmm by greg_barton · · Score: 5, Funny

    Who gets the fine money?

    AIG.

  9. Re:Hmmmm by spun · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I like paying taxes. My tax money buys me civilization. I just hate freeloaders who want civilization without paying for it. If you don't like civilization, don't live in it. There is plenty of unclaimed land all over the world where you can live without paying taxes to anyone. Have fun!

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    - None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton