NY Attorney General accuses Toshiba, Samsung, Sharp, LG and others of price fixing

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has filed a lawsuit against Toshiba, Samsung, Sharp, LG and other LCD panel manufacturers, claiming the companies colluded in price fixing.

Attorney General Cuomo had the following to say:

“Our investigation shows that an illegal cartel eliminated competition in the marketplace for LCD screens, made its own secret decisions to boost prices, and then took steps to make those high prices stick. As a result, hard-pressed New York cities, towns, schools and hospitals spent hundreds of millions of dollars on LCD screens affected by the illegal conspiracy. My office is bringing this case to get those illegal overcharges back.”

The complaint points the finger at the following companies:

AU Optronics Corporation AU Optronics Corporation America, Inc. Chi Mei Corporation Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corporation Chi Mei Optoelectronics USA, Inc. CMO Japan Co., Ltd. Hitachi, Ltd. Hitachi Displays, Ltd. Hitachi Electronic Devices (USA),  Inc. LG Display Co., Ltd. LG Display America, Inc. Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. Samsung Electronics America, Inc. Samsung Semiconductor,  Inc. Sharp Corporation Sharp Electronics Corporation Toshiba Corporation Toshiba Matsushita Display Technology Co., Ltd. Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc. Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc.

Stay tuned for more. This could get interesting.