HP has accused suppliers Chunghwa Picture Tubes and Tatung Company of America of conspiring to set prices and restrict output of LCD panels between 1998 and 2006, which allegedly cost the company more than $1bn in damages from overcharges.
The company purchased the LCD panels through its Singapore unit and a Taiwan based procurement service for computers which were to be sold in the US.
Other suppliers of LCDs have also faced criminal and civil cases alleging to a global conspiracy to fix prices. In the past guilty pleas have been made by LG Display and Sharp in 2008 and 2009 and saw the two company’s pay $585m in criminal fines.
The case is Hewlett-Packard Co. v. Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd., 12-06085, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California but as yet no comment has been made by Tatung.
