NY Antitrust Suit Accuses Intel of Bribery

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has filed an antitrust lawsuit against Intel accusing the company of bribery. These are not new allegations, the evidence in the case is the exact same evidence used in the five year old battle with AMD and the EU. Intel has vowed to fight the allegations.

"Intel has engaged in a systematic worldwide campaign of illegal, exclusionary conduct to maintain its monopoly power and prices in the market for x86 microprocessors," the suit asserts. "By exacting exclusive or near-exclusive agreements from large computer makers in exchange for payments totaling billions of dollars, and threatening retaliation against any company that did not heed its wishes, Intel robbed its competitors of the opportunity to challenge Intel's dominance in key segments of the market. This illegal behavior was highly detrimental to consumers, competition, and innovation."

Tough times for government finances? Lets find a company to sue.

more like the work of building a case has already been done, why let it go to waste?

granted that Intel was dirty as hell here, and without a doubt did what people are claiming,...

but just how many people need to go after them? Granted they should be called on the carpet but this is getting ridiculous. are we going to have 50 states suing them as well? Some needs to put a limit on this, even Intel is not going to get a fair shake if everyone jumps on them.

Isn't AMD building a fab in NY? is this NY's way of supporting AMD?

Intel's going to pay out the wah-zoo for this. It's a shame they resorted to these tactics, considering Intel has had a superior product since Conroe.

With i7 920's for $200 (I live near a MC), I'm not complaining... but they certainly deserve the handing-of-the-ass they are about to be served by Andrew Cuomo.

Notice that the articles don't "look farther" to the effects on the consumer...which is what most of us should be looking at. Sure...set up a scenario where Intel and AMD scrap on the streetcorner, getting your attention, while their confederates pick your pocket clean.

The fact is that unless companies are allowed to compete fairly, WE'RE the ones who pay the higher prices along the full spectrum of computing. There's nothing wrong with AMD supplying processors for the low-to-mid end of the range, bought in bulk, and reserving the high-end for Intel, in bulk.

If they want to compete in the true spirit of capitalism, there's no way that computer manufacturers should be infuenced by penalties, which is really a form of monopolistic price-fixing. Intel and AMD should just honestly compete with each other, and if that honesty has to be enforced by legal penalties, so be it. Without this, we're guaranteed to be paying the highest prices for technology, while waiting much longer than we should have for an improved product.

Nobody is above the law, no matter how much money they have, or how good their product is.

Originally Posted by qfwm

Isn't AMD building a fab in NY? is this NY's way of supporting AMD?

well NY is dirty enough itself but I doubt it. this is (IMO anyway) more along the lines of their decisions to try and tax online retailers and such. They seem to think that they should be able to regulate and control anything that affects them. Kind of like the US does with the rest of the world. They are probably seeing green here as well as a chance to get themselves (and some politicians) on the radar.

and to be fair they do have a grip here, Intel's actions did negatively affect customers in NY, and there are a LOT of computers dependent people in NY. Its even arguable that they would have a bigger claim then most everyone with a few exceptions. Not to mention stock holders, traders, and investors that tend to populate the place. Still how many people are going to go after them? If every state starts that could be a hell of an ordeal.

This is the world we have allowed ourselves to live in. You sue to get what you want, your lawyer is your bank, your product, your lifeline. Period.

Originally Posted by Valset

granted that Intel was dirty as hell here, and without a doubt did what people are claiming,...

but just how many people need to go after them? Granted they should be called on the carpet but this is getting ridiculous. are we going to have 50 states suing them as well? Some needs to put a limit on this, even Intel is not going to get a fair shake if everyone jumps on them.

Pretty much.

This is something Intel did years and years ago. They've been fined by just about ever country out there for doing it, and have more than paid back their debt to society. At this point, they are just getting milked for cash.

Actually they've been fined by 2 countries and the EU, and have appealed to the EU and i believe settled with Korea and Japan. Anyway, the grand total of their payment to society totals a whopping 50 million or so. That's a slap in the face, not a pay back to society.

Originally Posted by flippin_waffles

Actually they've been fined by 2 countries and the EU, and have appealed to the EU and i believe settled with Korea and Japan. Anyway, the grand total of their payment to society totals a whopping 50 million or so. That's a slap in the face, not a pay back to society.

actually I think they were just the only ones to get money so far, it will take years to get money out of them. The EU def has a claim and so does the US (but we are easier to be bought off) There liability here is going up and others are just getting around to smacking them. They do have it coming but its starting to get out of control here. I am in no way trying to defend them, I just don't want it to be unreasonable.

I like the part where the consumer gets screwed but the government gets the money.

Originally Posted by NKDietrich

Tough times for government finances? Lets find a company to sue.

lmao, yeah suing Intel would bring enough money to keep Gov going.

i now return you to your Art Bell broadcast

OMG, Intel just settled with AMD. They are paying $1.25B to settle all Japan and US lawsuits. On the plus side for Intel, It drops their taxes from 26% to 20% so I guess it worked out for Intel as well.

http://tech.yahoo.com/news/ap/200911...amd_settlement