HP sues screen makers over price fixing Hewlett-Packard, the embattled US computer maker, is taking legal action against two Taiwanese LCD screen makers in the latest of a string of lawsuits over price-fixing to hit the industry. HP accused Taiwan's Chunghwa Picture Tubes and its subsidiary Tatung Company of America of causing it over $1bn in damages by overcharging, in a suit filed in the federal court in San Francisco on November 30. It is seeking treble damages for the companies" alleged price-fixing from 1998 until 2006, according to Bloomberg. During a long-running antitrust investigation by US and European authorities of price-fixing involving screens used in devices such as notebooks and television sets, many of Asia's main display makers have already settled with governments and other litigants and paid stiff penalties. Companies including Chunghwa, South Korea's Samsung Electronics and Japan's Sharp have paid steep fines, although far less than the billions HP is seeking, to settle the charges and lawsuits they had faced. In September, a US court fined Taiwan's AU Optronics $500m, which matches the record penalty for price-fixing in the US. HP said it "had hoped to settle this matter out of court, [but] negotiations have not been successful, leaving HP no choice but to bring this matter before the courts." Chunghwa said on Tuesday that it does not expect the lawsuits related to price-fixing to significantly affect its sales or finances. "We have lawyers dealing with the matter," it said. The lawsuit comes as HP faces heavy criticism for the $8.8bn writedown it recently announced related to its acquisition last year of UK software company Autonomy. HP is also grappling with a global decline in PC sales, a trend it had hoped would be offset by its acquisition of Autonomy. Chunghwa was first investigated for price-fixing in 2006 by the EU. It paid a fine of €9m as well as an undisclosed amount to settle out of court a class-action suit brought against it by a US consumer group, the company said. In 2008, Chunghwa pleaded guilty, along with LG Display and Sharp, to charges of conspiracy to fix prices brought by the US justice department and agreed to pay a $65m fine for violating antitrust laws between 2001 and 2006.