A Northern California jury on Tuesday found Toshiba guilty of conspiring to fix prices of liquid crystal displays. Customers brought a civil lawsuit against the Japanese company and other LCD providers earlier this year alleging anti-competitive practices. While most other defendants settled the case out of court, Toshiba decided to fight the allegations in a San Francisco federal court. The company will now be forced to return $70 million to consumers who bought various products, and pay $17 million to manufacturers who used its LCD panels. “There was strong evidence that Toshiba participated in the price-fixing conspiracy through communications with other TFT-LCD manufacturers, and that it received future pricing information from its competitors, shared its own future information, and was aware of its wrongdoing,” stated Bruce L. Simon, co-lead counsel for plaintiffs. “We are grateful for the jury’s service. The jury rejected Toshiba’s claim that it had done nothing wrong, and this is one of the few antitrust class actions ever tried to a successful verdict.” Read on for a related press release.
Federal Jury Today Finds Toshiba Participated In Global Conspiracy to Fix Prices of Liquid Crystal Displays
With Trebling of Damages, Verdict Against Toshiba Set At $261 Million And Follows Earlier Settlements of $430 Million in the Antitrust Class Action Litigation
San Francisco, CA – A federal court jury this morning found that Toshiba Corporation and its subsidiaries conspired with the world’s other leading manufacturers of Thin Film Transistor-Liquid Crystal Displays (“TFT-LCDs”) to raise and fix the prices of TFT-LCD panels and certain products. The jury awarded damages of $87 million. Federal antitrust law requires the trebling of these damages, resulting in a $261 million award against Toshiba.
Richard M. Heimann, co-lead trial counsel for plaintiffs, stated, “We are very pleased the jury found in favor of the plaintiffs and found that Toshiba violated the law, particularly in light of the government’s decision not to criminally prosecute Toshiba for its misconduct. The case demonstrates once again the critical role our civil justice system plays in holding corporations, no matter how powerful or where they are based in the world, accountable for violating U.S. antitrust laws.”
“There was strong evidence that Toshiba participated in the price-fixing conspiracy through communications with other TFT-LCD manufacturers, and that it received future pricing information from its competitors, shared its own future information, and was aware of its wrongdoing,” stated Bruce L. Simon, co-lead counsel for plaintiffs. “We are grateful for the jury’s service. The jury rejected Toshiba’s claim that it had done nothing wrong, and this is one of the few antitrust class actions ever tried to a successful verdict.”
