Another year in technology guarantees several things: new gadgets and new lawsuits. Recently, Nokia sued Apple; i4i Ltd won its lawsuit against Microsoft; Apple sued HTC, and now, Dell is suing a group of well known Asian LCD monitor manufacturers for alleged price-fixing. HannStar, Hitachi, Sharp, Toshiba, and Seiko Epson have been named in the case. Most copyright lawsuits are, in my view, the result of extremely broad and vague copyright patents, but Dell’s lawsuit is entirely different and, if true, surely justified.

Dell is charging these five companies in a conspiracy that has them in cahoots for overcharging for LCDs since 1996. Sharp and Hitachi are in hot water here since both have already pleaded guilty to similar schemes in the past: Sharp has been fined $120 million for price-fixing between April 2001 to December 2006, while Hitachi was nailed with a $31 million penalty by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Has anyone else seen the funny Matt Damon film The Informant?

Source: Wall Street Journal