Price fixing claims
Telco AT&T has said that LCD manufacturers involved
in a price-fixing scandal will be sued over extra costs it has had to stump up
for handsets.
The case came about after LG, Samsung, Chunghua, AU
Optronics admitted to a price-fixing case brought by the US government. That case was related to a cartel which operated between
1996, to December 11, 2006 when the four outfits illegally attempted to
restrict competition” to raise the price of their LCD products.
AT&T bought the handsets and sold them with a subsidy
to punters. It could not pass on the increased costs and was left with a huge
bill on millions of handsets.
LCD makers will be in a sweat about this case because if
AT&T’s wins it opens the door to other telcos to take action. What is worse
is that consumers to join a class action and basically empty the companies'
bank accounts.
