Blawgletter mentioned a new antitrust investigation last week, this one involving cathode ray tubes. What do CRTs do? We don’t know the science part but we have learned that CRTs graced the earliest television sets and today go in computer monitors and televisions. Their tubiness makes them bulkier than their flat-screen cousins (LCD, plasma, DLP), but they get better resolution and cost less.
So who makes CRTs? The news of the investigation named Samsung and a joint venture between Matshusita and Toshiba. See Bloomberg, EU, Japan Raid Cathode-Ray Tube Makers in Cartel Case.
Out of pure curiosity, we’ve put together our own list of past and current CRT manufacturers:
Matsushita Toshiba Picture Display Co.
Samsung SDI Co.
NEC Display Solutions
SANYO Electric Co. Ltd.
Fujitsu Siemens Computers
SONY
Hitachi
Royal Philips
RCA
National
Dumont
Sylvania
People who buy a price-fixed product directly from a price-fixing company can collect treble damages plus attorneys’ fees. Hmmm.
Barry Barnett
