Hewlett-Packard Co (HP) has filed a case in a US court against AU Optronics Corp (AUO, 友達光電), saying the Taiwanese company conspired to fix the prices of thin-film LCD panels, court documents showed.
The complaint, which sought damages from AUO, was filed under seal to protect HP’s confidential information about the company’s process for procuring LCD panels, according to a court filing made by Jun Kim, HP’s general manager for the Displays Business Unit.
AUO, the nation’s second--largest LCD panel maker, said yesterday that it was trying to get a better understanding of the situation.
The company declined to elaborate.
Earlier this month, a South Korean regulator ruled that AUO had infringed competition law, along with other LCD makers such as Chimei Innolux Corp (奇美電子), Taiwan’s top LCD panel maker.
Last year, the US Department of Justice accused AUO executives of participating in a group of industry officials who met regularly in Taipei hotel rooms and restaurants to discuss and agree on prices, from 2001 to 2006.
Apple Inc, Dell Inc and HP were among the companies directly affected by the alleged scheme, the agency said.
After the indictment, AUO repeatedly claimed its innocence and vowed to fight the allegations to clear its name.
In addition to legal concerns, investor worries over the company’s bottom line because of falling product prices have also put pressure on AUO’s share price.
In the second quarter of this year, AUO posted a net loss of NT$10.77 billion (US$371 million), or a loss per share of NT$1.22, considerably higher than the NT$8 billion in losses anticipated by the market.
On the Taiwan Stock Exchange, AUO shares fell 1.20 percent to close at NT$12.35, with 41 million changing hands after news of the suit surfaced.
Market analysts said they expected the weakening pricing power in the global flat-panel -sector to continue to impact the sector’s profitability, as screen makers are incurring a loss every time they sell a panel in the market’s current down cycle.
Lawsuits, especially patent disputes, are common in the technology sector as manufacturers seek to protect their newest technologies from being commoditized and exploited by rivals, but most are settled out of court as big companies prefer to avoid long fights and patented technology can be out of date by the time a case is over.
In April, AUO and Japan’s Sharp Corp signed a patent cross--licensing agreement and agreed to withdraw all lawsuits they had filed against each other.
AUO and South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co have also filed patent suits against each other this year.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last