International Probe Alleges 10-Company LCD Price Cartel
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An unprecedented international investigation jointly announced by American, South Korean, Japanese, and European authorities, has named the world's ten top producers of LCD in a criminal probe alleging they may all have conspired to fix prices in the burgeoning LCD display market during 2003 and 2004.
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(InfoWorld) - First it was chips, now it's LCDs (liquid crystal displays). Authorities around the globe are investigating possible anticompetitive conduct in the LCD industry, according to activity at LG.Philips LCD Co.Â offices. On Friday, officials from the Korean Fair Trade Commission visited LG.Philips' offices in Seoul as part of an investigation into possible anticompetitive behavior, LG.Philips said on Monday. In addition, the Japanese Fair Trade Commission issued a notice to LG.Philips' offices in Tokyo. and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) issued a subpoena to LG.Philips' offices in San Jose, California, the company said. The company said it would cooperate with the investigation. It was not immediately known Monday if other LCD companies had also been targeted. Authorities around the globe are already investigating other chip markets for possible anticompetitive behavior, including price fixing, and some companies have been fined. This was the first indication of an investigation into the LCD market. The DOJ recentlyÂ subpoenaed Advanced Micro DevicesÂ as part of an investigation into the graphics processor market. It has fined companies forÂ price-fixing in the DRAM market, and is also currently investigating similar issues in the SRAM (Static RAM) sector. LG.Philips, a joint venture of LG Electronics and Philips Electronics, is one of the largest makers of LCD screens. It competes with Samsung Electronics and Sony, among others.
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(InfoWorld) - The U.S. International Trade Commission said Thursday it will investigate complaints by Ericsson and its Swedish parent company that Samsung ElectronicsÂ and two of its U.S. companies violated patents used its mobile handsets. Ericsson and Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson filed a complaint against Samsung's Korean parent company, Samsung Telecommunications America and Samsung Electronics America, alleging that Samsung's importation of its patented mobile phones and components violated U.S. law, according to an ITC statement. The ITC set no timetable for the investigation, but said it would establish a target date for the completion of the investigation to within 45 days of its institution. EricssonÂ filed suit against SamsungÂ in a Texas court August 2, alleging that Samsung is infringing on its patents for mobile handsets and some of their components. The case is part of legal action taken by the Swedish company against its Korean rival and former partner since February, after the two failed to renew a 2002 licensing arrangement for patented technology. The deal expired at the end of 2005.
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The ITC is following up on unfair trade allegations made by InterDigital.
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Antitrust officials are looking for evidence that the chipmaker broke the rules to guarantee its chips would be competitive on the European market. Intel says it is cooperating with the investigation.
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Prosecutors indicted a Korean bank and a Belgium-based holding company owned by Lone Star Funds, an American private equity group, on charges of stock price manipulation in connection with Lone StarÂs 2003 acquisition of the bank. Lone StarÂs vice chairman, Ellis Short, and its general counsel, Michael Thomson, already face charges of spreading false information to weaken the stock price of the Korea Exchange BankÂs credit card unit before it was bought by Lone Star. The new charges are against the bank and LSF-KEB Holdings, a paper company based in Brussels that Lone Star set up in 2003 to take over the bank, according to Chae Dong-wook, a senior prosecutor. Officials of the bank and other Lone Star officials declined to comment.
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Doubts over charges against a US firm underscore concerns about the legal system and foreign investment.
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In a move that could affect the future prices of many products using LCD technology, Honeywell has announced that it has filed suit against 34 companies for alleged LCD-related patent infringement.
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German microchip giant Infineon Technologies agreed to plead guilty and to pay a 160 million dollar fine for participating in &quot;an international conspiracy to fix prices&quot; US officials said.
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U.S. antitrust regulators are  investigating possible anti-competitive practices at the  American Stock Exchange and Chicago Board Options Exchange,  according to the annual report of the National Association of  Securities Dealers.
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Federal officials said the investigation started with more than 30 Chinese companies, which were shipping raw materials to labs in the United States and nine other countries.
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(InfoWorld) - The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has subpoenaed Advanced Micro DevicesÂ as part of an antitrust investigation into the market for graphics processors and graphics cards, AMD said Thursday. AMD recently entered the graphics chip business with itsÂ acquisition of ATI Technologies, which was finalized last month. The DOJ has not made any allegations against AMD or ATI, and AMD intends to cooperate with the investigation, it said. While the DOJ hasn't said specifically what it is investigating, one industry analyst speculated that the case could be about price fixing. The DOJ has alreadyÂ charged a number of chip companiesÂ in the DRAMÂ memory chip market for price fixing, and isÂ investigating severalÂ in the SRAM (Static RAM) chip market. "If the DOJ wanted to, it could just go down every line in the semiconductor industry and find the same issue," said Gartner analyst Richard Gordon. That's because there are a relatively few number of suppliers in the chip industry and an open flow of communication between competitors and customers, who may not define price fixing the same way the DOJ does, he said. The investigations are unlikely to benefit end users, according to Gordon. Historically, prices in the chip industry have gone up and down based on supply and demand and he doubts that such investigations will result in lower pricing. A spokeswoman for AMD in Europe, Hollis Krym, said she did not know if the investigation has a broad scope and includes other graphics chip companies or if it is in the context of the ATI acquisition. U.S. antitrust authorities have already approved AMD's merger with ATI. In the DRAM market, the DOJ has charged Samsung Electronics, Hynix Semiconductor America, Elpida Memory, and Infineon TechnologiesÂ with price fixing and sentenced the companies to pay multi-million dollar fines. Sony, Cypress Semiconductor, and the U.S. arms of Mitsubishi Electric, Samsung Electronics, and Toshiba have all been asked to turn over information to the DOJ for an investigation into SRAM price fixing.
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TORONTO, Nov. 28 -- Regulators have launched an investigation into allegations that the Canadian divisions of Nestle, Cadbury, Hershey and others have teamed up in a price-fixing scheme in the multibillion-dollar Canadian business of chocolate bars, company officials confirmed Wednesday.
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Business & money: Operation at Currys and PC World-owner part of inquiry into allegations of anti-competitive practices
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Samsung Electronics Co. said Thursday it filed a complaint with American authorities over alleged unfair trade practices by Japanese rival Sharp Corp., fueling an intensifying legal battle over flat panel technology.
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First it was chips, now it's LCDs (liquid crystal displays). Authorities around the globe are investigating possible anticompetitive conduct in the LCD industry, according to activity at LG.Philips LCD Co.Â offices.
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More vendors report a number of regulatory agencies in different countries are looking into claims of price fixing.