Nokia has announced a lawsuit against 11 manufacturers of LCD screens, including Samsung, Toshiba, Phillips and LG, claiming that they fixed prices to keep the LCD market higher than normal market demand would have allowed.

In 2006, the electronics world was rocked when US regulators announced a probe into possible price fixing by the world's leading LCD manufacturers, a probe that eventually lead to convictions against the companies, who eventually paid large fines for their actions. Several of the companies plead guilty to the crime of price fixing, though Samsung was never charged and cooperated with investigators.

Mark Durrant, a spokesman for Nokia, has stated that the company filed the suits here in the US and in the UK, against both LCD and CRT manufacturers. He noted that Nokia hoped to avoid a years-long battle and would settle out of court.

For the hardware manufacturers, this is a turning point in their recovery from the turndown in profits they have suffered since the initial investigation in 2006. Weathering this battle with Nokia is crucial to their continued operations.

Since Nokia is the undisputed champion when it comes to cell phones, this could very well be the worst thing that could happen to these companies for a long time. Even should they manage to settle this battle outside of a courtroom, they have already lost the battle with the guilty pleas in 2006, opening them up for even more lawsuits from other manufacturers in the near future.

Watch for Nokia's stock to rise for a few days as copies of the lawsuits finally make it to the desks of the LCD manufacturers, but I predict a major problem for Nokia in the near future. Everyone knows they have been losing market share since the iPhone arrived to blazing angelic trumpets, but this is not the way to regain it.

It is a well-known ploy in the business world: If you can't make money from sales, find someone to sue. Unfortunately, companies who sue their own suppliers soon find themselves having a hard time finding contracts with them after the smoke clears. Maybe this is just the first of the death knells from the Finnish giant.