Bang & Olufsen holds Philips liable for damage from price agreements

Bang & Olufsen has held Philips liable in Denmark for millions of dollars in damage. This would result from price agreements that Philips has made with other companies in the field of TV parts. The cartel was condemned for this in 2012 by the European Court.

The Danish newspaper Børsen writes that Bang & Olufsen is claiming damages from Philips and LG. It is not known exactly how high the amount is, but it would be in the millions. The price agreements were made at the time by LG, Philips and other companies, including Samsung, Panasonic and Toshiba. It concerned agreements about the selling price of CRTs. The agreements applied between 1996 and 2006 and resulted in a fine of 313 million euros for Philips. In September, the European Court of Justice decided to maintain this fine.

According to a spokesperson, Philips has filed a subpoena in which it requests the court to rule that Philips is not liable for infringements of European competition law. The fact that Philips has already paid a fine does not mean that the damage suffered by third parties has also been eliminated. The fact that a fine has already been imposed by the European Court can be used as evidence by Bang & Olufsen in the proceedings.