HP Ends Bribery Charges With $16.24 million Cheque

While Seagate and Western Digital get sued, another market leader, only in the field of PCs, decided to put an end to a lawsuit of its own by coming to a financial agreement with the Department of Justice and the FCC.

As end-users may or may not know, Seagate and Western Digital were used by Rembrandt IP not too long ago over patent infringement.

Now, HP, the leading supplier of personal computers worldwide, seems to have decided on paying a significant sum of money in order to get rid of some charges of its own.

The charges in question were related to alleged bribery and were made by the Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Justice.

What those charges implied was that the company used such bribery-involving tactics across two Texas school districts in order to win government contracts.

"Meals and entertainment—including trips on a yacht and tickets to the 2004 Super Bowl—were provided by the contractors to get inside information and win contracts that were supposed to be awarded through a competitive bidding process," the Federal Communications Commission reportedly disclosed some time ago.

The fund that was compromised by these actions was the 'E-Rate,' otherwise known as the FCC's Schools and Libraries fund.

This fund gives said institutions the necessary financial assistance for the purchasing of computer and networking products.

“The E-Rate Program provides much-needed funding that allows underprivileged students to access the Internet,” said Tony West, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division of the Department of Justice.

“We will continue to pursue those who use improper inducements to undermine the integrity of this important program.”

In order to settle these charges, HP agreed to sign a cheque for $16.25 million, although the company did not really admit to the charges.

"This Agreement is neither an admission of liability by HP, which denies the claims described above, nor a concession by the United States that its claims are not well-founded," the settlement stated.