In a settlement that Samsung Electronics, Sharp, and five other liquid crystal display (LCD) manufacturers have worked out in a multi-class action lawsuit, approximately $553 million will be paid by the companies to consumers and eight states - Arkansas, California, Florida, Michigan, Missouri, New York, West Virginia, and Wisconsin - that accused the LCD-makers of price fixing.

Going by the settlement papers which were filed with the US District Court in San Francisco on Friday, the settlement that the LCD makers have worked out in the price-fixing lawsuit will witness Samsung paying $240 million and Sharp paying $115.5 million.

The other five companies involved in the lawsuit include Chimei Innolux, Hitachi Displays, HannStar Display, Chunghwa Picture Tubes, and Epson Imaging Devices; which will respectively pay $110.3 million, $39 million, $25.7 million, $5.3 million, and $2.9 million.

The multi-class action lawsuit was based on the allegations that the LCD-manufacturers had connived with one another for the inflation of the costs of LCD displays which were used in televisions, computer monitors, and notebook computers during the years 1996 to 2006 --- a move which, according to New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, "left consumers to pay artificially higher costs for televisions, computers and other electronics."

A probe had been initiated in December 2006, by authorities in Japan, Korea, the European Union and the US, into the anti-competitive practices followed by the LCD panel manufacturers; and most of the firms as well as executives pleaded guilty to criminal antitrust violations, paying a penalty of over $890 million.