Sharp Corp., Hitachi Displays Ltd., Epson Imaging Devices Corp. and four other companies have agreed to pay $538 million (¥41.8 billion) to settle a price-fixing suit in the United States involving liquid crystal displays for personal computers and TVs.
The seven companies allegedly formed a cartel to artificially inflate prices for the LCD screens in question, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said on Tuesday.
Up to $501 million (¥38.9 billion) of the settlement money will go toward compensating U.S. consumers who purchased products containing the LCDs between January 1999 and December 2006, according to a statement issued by Schneiderman's office.
Sharp will pay $115.5 million to settle the case, Reuters reported separately. An official at Sharp's public relations office meanwhile declined to comment, saying the company still has some legal procedural matters to settle.
In addition, Sharp and four of the other companies will pay more than $14 million (¥1 billion) in penalties, the statement said.
Samsung Electronics Co. was also implicated in the cartel.
Earlier this month, Sharp, Samsung and six other companies agreed to pay about $388 million (¥30.1 billion) to settle a case over the sale of LCD panels to distributors and manufacturers, according to Reuters.