LG Display fined $400M for LCD price fixing with Sharp, Chunghwa

By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, Nov. 12 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's LG Display Co. was fined US$400 million Wednesday for colluding with two other companies to fix the price of liquid crystal display panels used in computer monitors, mobile phones and televisions, the U.S. Justice Department said.

Japan's Sharp Corp. and Taiwan's Chunghwa Picture Tubes were fined $120 million
and $65 million each, spokesman Thomas Barnett said in a news conference.
"Three leading electronics manufacturers -- LG Display Co. Ltd., Sharp Corp. and
Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd. -- have agreed to plead guilty and pay a total of
$585 million in criminal fines for their roles in several distinct conspiracies
to fix the price of LCD panels," Barnett said.
The spokesman said the international cartel affected not only American consumers
but also U.S. manufacturers in the $70-billion-a-year industry involving LCD
panels used for computer laptops and monitors, mobile phones and flat-panel
televisions.
"Consumers were forced to pay more for these products," he said. "Some of the
world's largest computer, television and cellular telephone manufacturers in the
world -- including Apple, Dell and Motorola -- were also affected."
"Bringing to justice international cartels is our highest priority in cartel
enforcement, because it is these international cartels that cause the greatest
harm to American consumers," he said.
hdh@yna.co.kr
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