Nokia has filed lawsuits this week against major CRT and LCD makers, alleging price fixing.
The companies, or their subsidiaries, named in the suits are AU Optronics, Hitachi, LG Electronics, Philips Electronics, Samsung Electronics, Seiko Epson, Sharp and Toshiba.
“The investigations are into alleged cartel activities, effectively price fixing, in the supply of both CRTs (cathode ray tubes) and LCDs (liquid crystal display) — components that we have bought in significant volumes over a number of years. Had we not been overcharged for them our profitability would have been higher,” says Nokia spokesman Mark Durrant.
Durrant did not disclose how much Nokia was seeking in monetary damages, but did say they were “not insignificant.”
Result for: investigations
Following a lengthy investigation into copyright infringement, a Milan judge has this week ordered the operators of a few unauthorized music download sites to forfeit $2.4 million euros.
The sites were each accused of offering unlicensed music for download, either for free or for prices much cheaper than iTunes or Amazon MP3.
The investigation was headed by the Italian Fiscal Police, and began in 2003. 54 suspects were arrested in Italy, but all went free after the “case was dropped as a result of the expiry of the relevant limitation period.”
Despite that technical difficulty, the Judge for Preliminary Investigations said it had been proven that the offenses had indeed been committed and the money, which had been frozen anyways, was seized.
Result for: investigations
According to industry officials, an anti-piracy dog by the name of Paddy has made a large bust in Malaysia, uncovering 35,000 pirated discs in a few warehouses in the region.
The MPA added in a statement that the raids occurred last week in southern Johor. Paddy is trained to detect chemicals in DVD-R discs.
“Paddy led enforcement officers on a successful weekend operation to shut down the supply lines of pirated movie DVDs in the Malaysian state of Johor,” read the statement.
“Post-raid investigations revealed that two of the targets were actively involved in exporting pirated DVDs to Singapore.”
After the raids, 6 factories were shut down and brand new titles such as “Terminator Salvation”, “Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian”, “Angels and Demons” and “Star Trek” were seized.
“This is a clear signal to the pirates that we will not waver in our efforts to shut them down,” continued Mohamad Roslan Mahayudin, director-general of enforcement for the Malaysian ministry.
“We are glad to hear that Paddy’s skills are being put to good use against the large, organised network of pirates involved in exporting illegal pirated DVDs to Singapore,” concluded Mike Ellis, the MPA’s Asia-Pacific managing director.
