HP drops suit against LCD makers

Hewlett-Packard ended a lawsuit it filed last year in which it accused Chunghwa Picture Tubes and Tatung Co of America of fixing the prices of liquid-crystal display screens.

The three companies, in a filing on Thursday in federal court in San Francisco, agreed to the dismissal of the case.

The filing did not explain why HP was dropping its claims against the Taiwanese companies.

HP had alleged that it incurred more than US$1 billion in damages from overcharges for the screens that it bought through its Singapore unit and a Taiwan-based procurement service.

HP claimed that Chunghwa Picture Tubes, Tatung and other LCD makers conspired to set prices and restrict output for panels from 1998 to 2006.

Michael Thacker, a spokesman for Palo Alto, California-based HP, and David Brownstein, a lawyer representing Chunghwa Picture Tubes and Tatung in the case, did not immediately respond to phone messages after regular business hours seeking comment on the filing.