Japanese electronics manufacturer Hitachi Displays has pleaded guilty to fixing prices of Thin Film Transistor-Liquid Crystal Display (TFT-LCD) panels it sold to Dell and is to pay a $31m fine.
The company participated in a conspiracy to fix the prices of TFT-LCDs sold to Dell for use in desktop monitors and notebook computers from 1 April 2001 to 31 March 2004.
'Hitachi joins three other multinational companies who have admitted to involvement in fixing prices for LCD panels sold to US companies and that have already paid criminal fines totalling more than $585m (£426m),' said Scott D Hammond, acting assistant attorney general in charge of the US Department of Justice's Antitrust Division.
Last December, LG Display pleaded guilty to participating in a worldwide conspiracy to fix the price of TFT-LCD panels and was sentenced to pay a $400m criminal fine – the second-largest fine in Antitrust Division history.
That same month, Sharp also pleaded guilty to participating in three separate conspiracies to fix the prices of TFT-LCDs it sold to Dell, Apple Computer and Motorola and was sentenced to pay a $120m fine.
In January, Chunghwa Picture Tubes pleaded guilty to participating in the same worldwide conspiracy as LG, and was sentenced to pay a $65m fine.
Study finds adverse impact of bio materials on earthworms
Try to solve one problem and several more occur! Whatever we do harms something somewhere.