14 DAY TRIAL // Continuing the somewhat worrisome trend of gaining less than stellar results in the courtroom, Samsung has been fined again, albeit not alone, this time by the Korea FTC.
Samsung, along with five other companies, will have to pay a fine of US$175 million, which is about the same as 127.69 million Euro.
This is because Korea's Fair Trade Commission (FTC) ruled that the LCD makers collaborated in a price fixing cartel from September 2001 to 2006.
The companies cited were Samsung Electronics, Samsung Electronics Taiwan, Samsung Japan, LG Display, AU Optronics, Chunghwa Picture Tubes and Hannstar Display and Chi Mei Innolux Display Corp.
Samsung and its subsidiaries ended up with the biggest fine of the lot, according to this report.
This is just the latest courtroom loss that Samsung has experienced over the past couple of months, and the list includes more than just its clashes with Apple.
Though some may not have heard or read about it yet, the company was also forced to pay a sum of money to a university graduate for misusing a graphics design.
All in all, this isn't a great time to be Samsung, even if the ban of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet in Europe (except Germany) was lifted.
After all, Australia is still off limits to the device and, should the appeal not go well, it will stay that way for good.
Furthermore, Apple appears to have also started to convince US judges that the Galaxy Tab 10.1 infringes its patents.
The item isn't exactly banned in the US yet, but Samsung has to tread very carefully.
All things considered, this latest fine that the company got landed with is, in a darkly ironic way, somewhat refreshing, since it doesn't actually have anything to do with the convoluted and, at times, arguably absurd patent system and the many loopholes that corporations are all too eager to exploit, for better or worse.