Sharp agrees to pay $198.5mln to settle TFT business lawsuit

PanARMENIAN.Net - Electronics maker Sharp has agreed to pay $198.5 million to settle a TFT business lawsuit with Dell and two other companies, PC Magazine reports.

In March 2010, the world's third-largest PC maker Dell filed a suit against Sharp, Hitachi Ltd., Toshiba Corp, and two other companies for alleged LCD display price fixing. Dell's partners could be AT&T and Nokia, since both companies named Sharp in similar suits in 2009, though it is not clear who else was involved in the settlement.

A Dell spokeswoman confirmed that the companies have reached a settlement, but declined to comment on the situation.

Sharp did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The out-of-court deal was struck July 9 between Sharp and Dell, as well as the two unnamed companies, Reuters said, in a case related to the thin film transistor liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) digital business in North America and Europe. Further details about the settlement have not been disclosed.

LCD price-fixing cases seem to be a dime a dozen recently.

Last week, Toshiba was fined $87 million in a California district court ruling that confirmed the company was conspiring with competitors to fix prices of TVs. The company, however, said it doesn't expect to actually have to pay the damages following a previous settlement with the case's other defendants.

Sharp was involved in another lawsuit in December that forced the company, as well as Samsung and Hitachi, to pay a $553 million settlement in a New York price-fixing case.