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A new lawsuit filed with the US District court for the Eastern District of New York has dragged

technology giants Toshiba, Sharp along with 13 others in the midst of a fresh round of controversy.

The lawsuit, filed by two retailing house ABC Appliance and P.C. Richard & Son, accused all the 15

companies of taking shelter in illegal and unethical ways to deprive consumers from their rights for

their own profitability.

According to the lawsuit, all these companies’ officials met in person, as well as used other modes of

communication to fix the prices of their products in such a manner that all of them can get the most

out of the market, prohibiting in the process, consumers from being benefited from a healthy

competitive market.

Seven participant companies in this unholy nexus have reportedly confessed to the charges brought

against them. Also there are reports of some of these seven companies revealing the names of

other price-fixers too in order to lower their fines.

Toshiba said that it is currently looking into the matter, while Sharp officials, refrained from making

any comments on the issue, according to a Bloomberg report.

Read more: http://www.itproportal.com/2011/06/18/toshiba-sharp-dragged-to-court-for-unethical-business-practices/#ixzz2GzSMZd4H

June 16 (Bloomberg) -- Toshiba Corp., Sharp Corp. and at least 13 other

makers of liquid-crystal displays were sued by retailer P.C. Richard &

Son Inc. over claims they conspired to fix prices.

Beginning about 1996, the companies “met in person or communicated

by other means to agree on LCD product prices and the amount of LCD

products each would produce,” according to the complaint filed today in

federal court in Brooklyn, New York.

In addition to Farmingdale, New York-based P.C. Richard, the suit was

filed by Pontiac, Michigan-based ABC Appliance Inc., which runs retailer

ABC Warehouse, and Marta Cooperative of America Inc., a buying

cooperative based in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Seven of the defendants have admitted to participating in the conspiracy

and paid millions of dollars in criminal fines, according to the lawsuit.

Best Buy Co., the world’s largest consumer-electronics retailer, sued the

display makers last year.

Keisuke Oomori, a spokesman for Tokyo-based Toshiba, said the

company is checking on the matter. Miyuki Nakayama, a spokeswoman

for Osaka, Japan-based Sharp, declined to comment