Federal jurors in San Francisco have written the latest chapter in the ongoing AU Optronics LCD price-fixing case, delivering a guilty verdict on the company and two of its executives.

The Taiwanese company, its US subsidiary, and executives Hsuan Bin Chen and Hui Hsiung were found guilty of violating US anti-trust laws. However, according to Thomson Reuters, the former CEO LJ Chen was found not guilty of conspiring to fix prices, while the jury could not reach a verdict over a fourth executive, Steven Leung, resulting in a mistrial.

The jury found that the gains from the price-fixing cartel amounted to around half a billion dollars.

AU Optronics was the only one among seven Asian LCD manufacturers to contest the price-fixing charges, and not surprisingly, says it will appeal the decision.

Samsung, Sharp, Chimei Innolux, Hitachi Display, HannStar Display, Chunghwa Picture Tubes, and Epson Imaging decided to settle (for around $US860 million) late last year. ®