lcd panel 1.1 billion settlement pricelist

In the late 1990s, there were what were called "Crystal Meetings". Top executives from ten Asian-based tech companies met in hotels and bars in Taiwan to set the price of LCD screens. In other words, price-fixing.

Customers and businesses who purchased LCD screens from ten manufacturers, including Samsung, Sharp and Toshiba between 1999 and 2006 can file a claim online at LCDClass.com. They agreed to pay a multi-state settlement of $1.1 billion.

Flanagan, a Charlotte resident, is North Carolina"s lead plaintiff in the case. She purchased a Macintosh desktop computer with an LCD screen in November 2001 for more than $2,200 dollars. The screen was traced back to one of the ten companies. She was represented by Charlotte lawyer James Wyatt, since the lawsuit was first filed in 2007.

Consumers who bought a TV, monitor or laptop computer with an LCD flat-panel screen from a retailer between 1999 and 2006 paid inflated prices and can apply for cash reimbursement until Dec. 6, officials announced Tuesday.

The announcement comes as a result of a settlement in a lawsuit that claims nine leading electronics manufacturers - Samsung, LG Display, Hitachi, Sharp, Toshiba, AU Optronics, Chunghwa Picture Tubes, HannStar Display Corp. and Chi Mei Optoelectronics - reaped "billions of dollars in illegal profits" by price fixing.

The lawsuit alleged the manufacturers conspired to limit production of, and illegally raise prices for, LCD flat-screen TVs, monitors and laptops, according to Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen"s office. The screens were sold to purchasers, who ultimately passed on the overcharges to consumers. The companies also monitored retail prices in the United States "to ensure that the cartel had set profit-maximizing prices" for the LCD panels, according to the lawsuit involving Wisconsin.

Under the settlements, eligible consumers and businesses across the country will be able to collect $25, $100, $200 or more by answering a few simple questions about the number of LCD items they bought. The exact payment depends how many products were purchased and how many claims are filed.

"This class action against international price fixers allows individual class members to recover a significant portion of what was illegally taken from them and acts as a warning to others that those who fix prices illegally will not gain from their wrongdoing," Van Hollen said in a statement Tuesday. "Although we are sometimes bombarded with these class action notices, the amount available for consumers who purchased LCD TVs, laptops and monitors is significant and I encourage eligible purchasers to file claims."

Dana Brueck, a spokeswoman for the attorney general"s office, said the state also reached an out-of-court settlement with Epson, so consumers who purchased Epson products may also be eligible for a payment through the same process.

Sharp, Hitachi and Samsung agreed to fix prices and limit the supply of LCD panels starting some time before 1999. As production increased in South Korea and Taiwan, the conspiracy expanded to the other manufacturers.

"The participating defendants typically discussed how to raise prices and reached agreements on target prices, floor prices, and/or price ranges for . . . LCD panel sales," the lawsuit alleges. "They also discussed their pricing regarding specific customers and reached agreements as to how to deal with customers" requests for discounts. The participating defendants also typically reached agreements to limit the production of . . . LCD panels by setting target production levels, delaying capacity expansion, slowing assembly line volume . . . and other mechanisms."

The settlement releases all claims of indirect purchasers including consumers, businesses and state government in Wisconsin. Companies that purchased LCD panels directly from the manufacturers are still pursuing in lawsuits in California.

No receipts or other documents are required for small claims. To get more information about the settlements or to file a claim online, visit www.LCDclass.com or call the LCD settlement notice administrator at (855) 225-1886.

U.S. states on Thursday announced they have reached settlement agreements with LCD makers LG Display, AU Optronics and Toshiba, who will pay close to US$571 million end the price-fixing case against them.

The U.S. state attorneys general said that the companies conspired to fix, raise and maintain prices of TFT-LCD flat panels, which led to prices being inflated and consumers being overcharged. Consumers in 24 states and the District of Columbia will be refunded overcharges they paid between Jan. 1, 1999 and Dec. 31, 2006.

Earlier settlements were made with companies including Chimei, Chunghwa Picture Tubes, Epson, HannStar Display, Hitachi, Samsung Electronics and Sharp. The companies paid $538 million to a settlement fund. With the addition of settlement agreements with LG Display, AU Optronics and Toshiba, the fund has now ballooned to $1.1 billion.

Following court approval of the settlements ,close to $692 million will be available as partial compensation to consumers in the states involved who purchased products containing TFT-LCD panels, said the New York State Attorney General"s office in a statement. Users can visit the LCD class-action lawsuit website for registration and more information on the past settlements.

A class-action case was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District in California. In earlier settlements made last month, Samsung has agreed to pay $240 million into the settlement fund, Sharp will pay $115.5 million and Chi Mei will pay $110.3 million.

A lawyer representing the class-action status against the display companies, Joseph Alioto, said that consumers will get paid a minimum of $25 for purchases made tied to the settlement. The consumer has to be a resident of a participating state, and purchases could include products such as TV, monitor, or laptop. The states participating are Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Hawaii, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Vermont, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

The U.S. Department of Justice has been investigating companies colluding in TFT-LCD price fixing, and many company executives have been found guilty of colluding to fix prices.

The TFT-LCD (Flat Panel) Antitrust Litigationclass-action lawsuit regarding the worldwide conspiracy to coordinate the prices of Thin-Film Transistor-Liquid Crystal Display (TFT-LCD) panels, which are used to make laptop computers, computer monitors and televisions, between 1999 and 2006. In March 2010, Judge Susan Illston certified two nationwide classes of persons and entities that directly and indirectly purchased TFT-LCDs – for panel purchasers and purchasers of TFT-LCD integrated products; the litigation was followed by multiple suits.

TFT-LCDs are used in flat-panel televisions, laptop and computer monitors, mobile phones, personal digital assistants, semiconductors and other devices;

In mid-2006, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Antitrust Division requested FBI assistance in investigating LCD price-fixing. In December 2006, authorities in Japan, Korea, the European Union and the United States revealed a probe into alleged anti-competitive activity among LCD panel manufacturers.

The companies involved, which later became the Defendants, were Taiwanese companies AU Optronics (AUO), Chi Mei, Chunghwa Picture Tubes (Chunghwa), and HannStar; Korean companies LG Display and Samsung; and Japanese companies Hitachi, Sharp and Toshiba.cartel which took place between January 1, 1999, through December 31, 2006, and which was designed to illegally reduce competition and thus inflate prices for LCD panels. The companies exchanged information on future production planning, capacity use, pricing and other commercial conditions.European Commission concluded that the companies were aware they were violating competition rules, and took steps to conceal the venue and results of the meetings; a document by the conspirators requested everybody involved "to take care of security/confidentiality matters and to limit written communication".

Companies directly affected by the LCD price-fixing conspiracy, as direct victims of the cartel, were some of the largest computer, television and cellular telephone manufacturers in the world. These direct action plaintiffs included AT&T Mobility, Best Buy,Costco Wholesale Corporation, Good Guys, Kmart Corp, Motorola Mobility, Newegg, Sears, and Target Corp.Clayton Act (15 U.S.C. § 26) to prevent Defendants from violating Section 1 of the Sherman Act (15 U.S.C. § 1), as well as (b) 23 separate state-wide classes based on each state"s antitrust/consumer protection class action law.

In November 2008, LG, Chunghwa, Hitachi, Epson, and Chi Mei pleaded guilty to criminal charges of fixing prices of TFT-LCD panels sold in the U.S. and agreed to pay criminal fines (see chart).

The South Korea Fair Trade Commission launched legal proceedings as well. It concluded that the companies involved met more than once a month and more than 200 times from September 2001 to December 2006, and imposed fines on the LCD manufacturers.

Sharp Corp. pleaded guilty to three separate conspiracies to fix the prices of TFT-LCD panels sold to Dell Inc., Apple Computer Inc. and Motorola Inc., and was sentenced to pay a $120 million criminal fine,

In South Korea, regulators imposed the largest fine the country had ever imposed in an international cartel case, and fined Samsung Electronics and LG Display ₩92.29 billion and ₩65.52 billion, respectively. AU Optronics was fined ₩28.53 billion, Chimmei Innolux ₩1.55 billion, Chungwa ₩290 million and HannStar ₩870 million.

Seven executives from Japanese and South Korean LCD companies were indicted in the U.S. Four were charged with participating as co-conspirators in the conspiracy and sentenced to prison terms – including LG"s Vice President of Monitor Sales, Chunghwa"s chairman, its chief executive officer, and its Vice President of LCD Sales – for "participating in meetings, conversations and communications in Taiwan, South Korea and the United States to discuss the prices of TFT-LCD panels; agreeing during these meetings, conversations and communications to charge prices of TFT-LCD panels at certain predetermined levels; issuing price quotations in accordance with the agreements reached; exchanging information on sales of TFT-LCD panels for the purpose of monitoring and enforcing adherence to the agreed-upon prices; and authorizing, ordering and consenting to the participation of subordinate employees in the conspiracy."

On December 8, 2010, the European Commission announced it had fined six of the LCD companies involved in a total of €648 million (Samsung Electronics received full immunity under the commission"s 2002 Leniency Notice) – LG Display, AU Optronics, Chimei, Chunghwa Picture and HannStar Display Corporation.

On July 3, 2012, a U.S. federal jury ruled that the remaining defendant, Toshiba Corporation, which denied any wrongdoing, participated in the conspiracy to fix prices of TFT-LCDs and returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiff class. Following the trial, Toshiba agreed to resolve the case by paying the class $30 million.

On March 29, 2013, Judge Susan Illston issued final approval of the settlements agreements totaling $1.1 billion for the indirect purchaser’ class. The settling companies also agreed to establish antitrust compliance programs and to help prosecute other defendants, and cooperate with the Justice Department"s continuing investigation.

(Reuters) - Samsung Electronics Co, Sharp Corp and five other makers of liquid crystal displays agreed to pay more than $553 million to settle consumer and state regulatory claims that they conspired to fix prices for LCD panels in televisions, notebook computers and monitors.A worker prepares a display of Sharp flat panel televisions for the 2009 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, January 7, 2009. REUTERS/Steve Marcus

The settlement is the latest arising from lawsuits alleging the creation of an international cartel designed to illegally inflate prices and stifle competition in LCD panels between 1999 and 2006, affecting billions of dollars of U.S. commerce.

In December 2006, authorities in Japan, Korea, the European Union and the United States revealed a probe into alleged anti-competitive activity among LCD panel manufacturers. Many companies and executives have since pleaded guilty to criminal antitrust violations and paid more than $890 million in fines.

The latest payout includes $538.6 million to resolve claims by “indirect” purchasers that bought televisions and computers with thin film transistor LCDs, as well as claims by eight states: Arkansas, California, Florida, Michigan, Missouri, New York, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

The accord calls for Samsung to pay $240 million, Sharp $115.5 million and Taiwan-based Chimei Innolux Corp $110.3 million, settlement papers filed on Friday with the U.S. District Court in San Francisco show.

Other defendants have yet to settle, including Taiwan-based AU Optronics Corp, one of the largest LCD panel manufacturers; South Korea’s LG Display Co and Toshiba Corp.

The accord follows a settlement this month by eight companies, including Samsung and Sharp, to pay $388 million to settle litigation by direct purchasers of the LCD panels.

According to Bloomberg, which obtained court papers filed yesterday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in San Francisco, Sharp and Samsung paid $105 million and $82.7 million, respectively, for their alleged involvement in driving up prices for LCDs sold between 1999 and 2006. Chimei Innolux paid $78 million as part of the class action lawsuit"s settlement.

The settlement, which is headed for final approval later this month, and includes a denial of guilt from all the companies, spells the end of what has been a four-year court battle over the allegations. It"s also the latest payment the companies have made over the issue.

"They colluded on minimum prices of panels, pricing policies on each product type, timing of price increases, and a ban on cash rebates," the country"s Fair Trade Commission said at the time. "They were aware that such action was illegal, and kept their gatherings and information secret."

The alleged price fixing impacted several markets and a host of companies, including Dell, Motorola, and Apple. In 2009, AT&T and Nokia sued Samsung, LG Display, and other panel makers, alleging that the companies artificially inflated prices on LCD panels. Dell followed with a lawsuit of its own last year, taking aim at Sharp, Hitachi, Toshiba, and others, accusing the firms of collusion on LCD panel pricing.

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On Dec. 22, 2020, the SEC filed a lawsuit against Ripple Labs and two of its executives on the grounds that they traded $1.3 billion in their XRP token as security without registering it with the commission. There have been arguments for and against the lawsuit. However, Ripple has strongly countered the claims, arguing that the SEC has been biased in its assessment.

LCD TV panel prices have reached all-time lows but they continue to decline, and although the pace of decline is slowing in the third quarter, we now forecast that the industry will have an “L-shaped” recovery in the fourth quarter. In other words, no recovery at all until 2023. The ‘perfect storm’ of a continued oversupply, near-universally weak demand and excessive inventory throughout the supply chain has combined, and every screen size of TV panel has reached an all-time low price. Although fab utilization has slowed sharply in July, we do not see any signal to suggest that prices can increase any time soon.