Federal Trade Commission sues Intel

The FTC opened its investigation in 2008 and has found, according to Richard Feinstein, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Competition, that “Intel has engaged in a deliberate campaign to hamstring competitive threats to its monopoly” by using threats and rewards designed to prevent PC makers from buying chips from AMD.

However, Intel General Counsel, Douglas Melamed, has argued that the case would have been settled but for the FTC insistence on “unprecedented remedies -- including the restrictions on lawful price competition and enforcement of intellectual property rights set forth in the complaint -- that would make it impossible for Intel to conduct business” and has stated that Intel will “aggressively defend itself”.

The case follows a Decision of the European Commission finding that Intel had breached Article 82 through actions aimed at excluding competitors from the market for x86 central processing units (CPUs) and imposing a fine of EUR 1.06 billion.

The South Korean FTC has also fined Intel while an investigation in Japan was settled without a fine.

Click here to read the FTC’s press release