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Hitachi Fined $31 Million For LCD Price Fixing
MojoKid writes "The Japanese electronics manufacturer has
just agreed to pay a staggering $31 million fine for its role in a conspiracy to fix prices in the sale of TFT-LCD panels sold to Dell, Inc. The United States Department of Justice made the proclamation, and details show that Hitachi has plead guilty to a one-count felony.
The charge, which was filed in the U.S. District Court in San Francisco, blames Hitachi Displays Ltd., a subsidiary of Hitachi Ltd., with 'participating in a conspiracy to fix the prices of TFT-LCD sold to Dell for use in desktop monitors and notebook computers from April 1, 2001 through March 31, 2004.'"
High or low? I guess it would be "dumping" if low...
This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.
did they make more than $31 mil profit by fixing the prices? If they did then they got away with it.
Once again a corporation is allowed to steal and not pay back what it stole...
While an individual would have to pay every DIME back and then pay a penalty on TOP of that...
Pathetic
"There are laws that enslave men, and laws that set them free. " - Sean Connery as King Arthur
How come when companies break the law they get to "agree" on the punishment?
Company treats employees like trash. FvC| Mr. Michael Dell in the a$$.
That's hardly pocket change to a corporation like Hitachi.
From that report the price fixing was from 2001 to 2004, while I agree something needed doing... Hitting a company with a 31M file in these times could easily send the company bankrupt, when so many companies are filing bankruptcy and causing more and more people to lose their jobs... was this really a smart decision to do this at this point in time?
$25 billion in profits last year. Yep, that $31 million fine is staggering.
Do we get anything for purchasing a dell monitor during that time? I could use some cash
See, that's where it's so unfair to treat companies as people. They get the benefits, but not the downsides. If *I* committed a felony I would go to gaol. A company gets a smack on the wrist and it is business as usual.
What we need is a gaol for companies. If a person has to lose "X" years of their life by being locked up, why not a company? Being in "gaol" might mean that the company is nationalised for the length of the sentence and all profits go to the government.
I'm starting to think its fishy how many cases go through there, and how much of it is either dubious in basis or result...
Does the government keep the $31 million, or does it get distributed to those people who bought price-fixed displays? If the government keeps it, do the victims get a tax cut?
I'd rather a profitable, productive company like Hitachi keep the money than the parasitic government.
I don't really think that anything changes now that they were "caught". How many price-fixing slaps-on-the-wrists have we seen? Any company that does it just chalks up the fine to business costs, and continues.
Do I think anything will change? Nope. Ask yourself why they don't get caught while doing it. After the fact, it doesn't matter anymore.
Oh, and double bonus points to the article writer for using the word "plead", and not "pleaded".
Remember, this Hitachi is only a small subsidiary of the bigger Hitachi, and mentioned in TFA.
I purchased multiple Dell systems and monitors during that period. Do I get anything back for the inflated prices I had to pay? Right... That and $3.50 USD (more or less) will buy me a cup of almost-decent coffee.
Sometimes, real fast is almost as good as real-time.
details show that Hitachi has plead guilty to a one-count felony.
Damn. Poor Hitachi. They just lost their right to vote and carry a gun.
There's no place like
What about the employees that committed unethical and illegal behaviors in doing this? I don't get why people are so shielded when working under a corporation.
Guess from what I've been reading on slashdot -- and not from we readers -- I'm not going to be slashdotting anymore. To stick the word "staggering" in the headline belies a belief in truth and becomes propaganda. Too bad, you used to be good slashdot, but you became corporate media.
Q: How can a "first post" be "redundant"? It's not much, but it certainly isn't the usual "first post" fare, right?
A: Moderators mod down posters they don't like.
AC just guessing here.
Does anyone know where I can find the short list of corporations that are not convicted felons?
It's odd the way that people who would never in a million years do business with an individual with a felony record (would you buy a house from someone convicted of fraud?) keep on sending their cash to three time loser corporations.
In 2005, Samsung paid $300m for price fixing. Hynix paid $185m. Infineon paid $160m, and four of its execs went to prison and paid $250,000 each.
In 2008, LG paid $400m in fines for price fixing. Sharp paid $120m. Chunghwa paid $65m.
So... $35m. In this context, not very "staggering".
Da Blog
...attorney's fees, your schooner becomes a rubber ducky for your bath tub..
I'd just like to add that to settle global bribery and corruption charges, Siemens recently agreed to pay $1.6 billion in fines - ~$900m to the US, and the rest to the EU. Now that's what I call "staggering".
Da Blog
If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
When people kill other people, we shoot, gas, behead, poison or fry them. When corporations do it, why do they always get by with "mistakes were made"? Why can't their charters be revoked and all of their assets and IP sold, for starters?
Our legal system needs to recognize that legal persons have a significant advantage over legal persons in court. To level that playing field:
-- Make the 14th Amendment's guarantee of equal protection under the law inapplicable to corporations.
-- After that, you raise the burden of proof, on both liability and damages, when corporations sue individuals. In other words, make the RIAA prove up every last penny of its damages when it sues file sharers. By that I mean, make them produce evidence that every song downloaded equals a lost sale. Hint: There isn't any.
-- By contrast, when individuals sue corporations, you reduce the burden of proof. Upon a finding of liability, damages are presumed.
-- Extend the right to counsel to individuals being sued by corporations.
On another note, the government can use its buying power to significantly (and positively) influence corporate behaviour. In other words:
-- Want to do business with the government? Great. You agree to a long list of "good corporate citizen business practises" (easy union recognition, no outsourcing, a living wage, caps on executive pay and perks, firings only for just cause, a fully funded pension plan, etc.) and we'll THINK about doing business with you.
Our legal system needs to recognize that legal persons have a significant advantage over legal persons in court.
Legal persons have a significant advantage over natural persons in court.
'Course, /. could add post revision functionality like every other web board has had for nearly a decade . . .
So does this mean that anyone who bought a Dell with one of these screens during that period paid more than they should have done? If so then presumably they'd have a legitimate claim against Dell and/or Hitachi?
I'd rather a profitable, productive company like Hitachi keep the money than the parasitic government.
Yes, what has "The Government" ever done for us? Well, except for the Internet you're using to demand a return to feudalism and the rule of nobles and strongmen, basically nothing!
Da Blog
Kick them out of selling in the USA for a couple of years.