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Japan's fair trade watchdog raided Sharp Corp. and Hitachi Ltd. on
Thursday on suspicion of limiting competition by fixing prices of
displays for portable game consoles, officials said.
Officials of the Fair Trade Commission inspected
offices and outlets of Sharp and Hitachi Displays Ltd., Hitachi
Ltd.'s wholly-owned subsidiary, company officials said.
"It is true that the Fair Trade Commission
is doing an on-the-spot inspection on our company, but we are still
trying to confirm further details," said a spokeswoman for
Sharp.
There was no immediate comment from the
commission.
Local media said the two companies were
suspected of rigging prices of liquid crystal displays (LCDs) for
Nintendo's popular portable DS game consoles.
Nintendo confirmed that Sharp and Hitachi
Display are currently the only suppliers of the three-inch
(7.5-centimeter) panel for Nintendo DS and DS Lite consoles.
"But we are not aware of the reported
allegations," a Nintendo spokesman said, adding that it was not
known if the company filed a complaint with the watchdog about the
alledged bid-rigging.
Nintendo has sold 64.79 million of the portable
game consoles since they were first launched in 2004.
-- AFP
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