EU Expands Intel Favoritism Investigation
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&quot;The bad blood and legal wrangling between Intel and AMD goes back a decade,&quot; Jonathan Eunice, an analyst with the research firm Illuminata, told the E-Commerce Times.
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The European Commission confirmed Monday it has received a written response to the&#160;formal antitrust charges&#160;it filed against computer chip maker Intel, after some delays.
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Tuesday&#39;s&#160;raid on Intel&#39;s Munich office&#160;by European Commission investigators marks the latest development in one of several antitrust cases that have dogged the world&#39;s largest chip maker for years. Here&#39;s a rundown of Intel&#39;s brushes with antitrust investigators and lawsuits around the world since 1990:1990Dec. 19: Microprocessor maker Cyrix filed an antitrust lawsuit against Intel in the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of Texas. &quot;Intel has engaged in a campaign of unlawful exclusionary practices to protect its coprocessor monopoly from competition by Cyrix,&quot; the company said in a statement.1991June 29: The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) informed Intel that it was investigating the company&#39;s business practices.Aug. 20: Advanced Micro Devices brought a $2 billion antitrust lawsuit against Intel in the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of California, alleging that Intel &quot;engaged in unlawful acts designed to secure and maintain a monopoly.&quot;Dec. 19: U.S. District Court Judge James Ware dismissed part of AMD&#39;s antitrust lawsuit against Intel because a four-year statute of limitations had passed for some actions listed in AMD&#39;s complaint. AMD declared its intention to press forward with the lawsuit anyway.1992May 28: Processor maker Chips and Technologies sued Intel for antitrust violations in the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of California. The claims were a response to a Feb. 1992 patent lawsuit filed by Intel.1993Feb. 4: Chips and Technologies agreed to dismiss its 1992 antitrust claims against Intel as part of a settlement to resolve a patent dispute between the two companies.July 15: The FTC completed its investigation into Intel&#39;s business practices, saying no evidence was found to support charges of anticompetitive behavior.1994Feb. 4: Cyrix dismissed its 1990 antitrust claims against Intel as part of a patent-dispute settlement between the two companies.1995Jan. 11: AMD and Intel announced a broad legal settlement that ended several court cases between the two companies, including the 1991 antitrust lawsuit filed by AMD.1997Aug. 27: The FTC requested additional information from Intel concerning its plans to acquire Chips and Technologies, citing antitrust laws. At the time, Chips and Technologies was a major supplier of graphics chips.Sept. 25: The FTC began a second antitrust investigation into Intel&#39;s business practices. This investigation was conducted separately from the review of Intel&#39;s offer to acquire Chips and Technologies.1998Jan. 13: The FTC decided not to seek an injunction against Intel&#39;s acquisition of Chips and Technologies but announced plans to &quot;continue the investigation into the lawfulness of the acquisition.&quot;April 23: The FTC ruled that an October 1997 legal settlement between Intel and Digital Equipment that included the sale of Digital Equipment&#39;s semiconductor division, including its Alpha processor, to Intel would violate U.S. antitrust law if completed. As a result, the FTC required Digital Equipment to offer licenses for its Alpha processor to both AMD and Samsung Electronics as part of the deal.June 8: The FTC issued an antitrust ruling against Intel. The FTC found that Intel stopped providing important technical information about its products to Digital Equipment, Compaq Computer, and Intergraph after the three companies took legal action against Intel to enforce microprocessor patents they held. Intel also threatened to stop selling microprocessors to those companies, the FTC said.1999March 17: The FTC accepted a settlement with Intel over the 1998 antitrust ruling. The agreement required Intel to refrain from withholding technical information from customers involved in intellectual-property litigation with the company, but did not constitute an admission of guilt on the chip maker&#39;s part.2000Sept. 26: The FTC ended its second investigation into Intel&#39;s business practices and decided to take no further action against the company.2004Apr. 8: The Fair Trade Commission of Japan (JFTC) raided the offices of Intel&#39;s Japanese subsidiary and several Japanese computer companies as part of an investigation into Intel&#39;s business practices.2005March 8: JFTC ruled that Intel violated Japanese antitrust laws and hurt competition in the country&#39;s processor market.March 31:&#160;Intel disputed the JFTC&#39;s findings, but did not contest them and agreed to refrain from certain business practices.June 27: AMD filed an antitrust lawsuit against Intel in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware. The lawsuit detailed allegations of anticompetitive behavior by Intel in the U.S., Asia and Europe.June 30:&#160;AMD sued Intel&#160;in the Tokyo High Court and the Tokyo District Court, seeking more than $50 million in damages arising from the chip maker&#39;s anticompetitive actions in Japan.July 12: European Commission investigators raided the offices of Intel and PC manufacturers in several countries as part of an antitrust investigation.2006Feb. 9: Korean Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) officials&#160;raided Intel offices in South Korea.July 17: AMD filed a complaint against Intel with Germany&#39;s Federal Cartel Office, claiming that a deal betwen Intel and retailer Media Markt blocked the sale of computers based on AMD processors at hundreds of retail outlets.Sept. 11: European Commission antitrust officials announced plans to investigate the complaint filed in Germany by AMD against Intel and Media Markt.2007July 27: The European Commission&#160;charged Intel with antitrust violations. It accused Intel of offering rebates to PC manufacturers that buy the majority of their processors from Intel, paying PC manufacturers to delay or cancel products based on AMD processors, and selling processors below cost when bidding against AMD for contracts with server makers.Sept. 12: The KFTC issued preliminary antitrust charges against Intel while continuing its investigation into the company&#39;s business practices in South Korea.2008Jan. 10: The New York State Attorney General launched an antitrust investigation of Intel. The chip maker was served with a subpoena seeking information on its pricing practices and &quot;possible attempts to exclude competitors through market domination.&quot;Feb. 12: European Commission investigators raided Intel&#39;s office in Munich. The offices of retailers Media Markt and DSG International were also raided by investigators.
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The European Commission has asked four European Union countries to justify why they favor Intel Corp. processors in computers for public authorities, it announced Wednesday.
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European Union investigators will probe allegations that Microsoft withheld information from rivals that would allow them to make compatible software.
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The European Commission, fresh from a major court victory over Microsoft, launched new antitrust investigations into the software giant on Monday on suspicion it abused its market dominance to favor its Web browser and Office product.
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(InfoWorld) - The European Commission has expanded anÂ ongoing antitrust probeÂ of computer chip maker Intel to examine claims that the company has been pressuring the Continent's largest computer retail chain not to sell computers containing chips made by archrival Advanced Micro DevicesÂ (AMD), Commission spokesman Jonathan Todd confirmed Monday. "The Commission is concerned that Intel has been putting pressure on Media Markt not to stock computers that include AMD chips as opposed to Intel chips," Todd said. Media Markt is a German chain of over 360 stores spread across 11 countries in the European Union. In July AMD complained to Germanyâs antitrust office, the Bundeskartellampt, that it didnât have access to this vital sales outlet. The Commission decided to examine the claim because of the cross-border nature of the alleged antitrust abuse involving Media Markt and because, if true, Intel's links with the retailer would strengthen its ongoing antitrust case, which began in 2001.
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Intel offices in Munich were raided by the European Commission on Tuesday as part of an ongoing antitrust investigation.Confirming the raids, Intel spokesman Chuck Mulloy said the company fully cooperated with the EC. He declined further comment.The Commission inspected the premises of CPU manufacturers and PC retailers, said Jonathan Todd, spokesman for the EC, declining to comment on which companies were raided.The offices of German consumer electronics vendor Media Markt and DSG International, which runs Dixons in the U.K., were also raided, according to multiple newspaper and wire service reports.The raids relate to concerns of the abuse of a dominant market position, the EC said in a statement.&quot;Surprise inspections are a preliminary step in investigations into suspected infringements of EC competition law,&quot; the Commission said. The inspections do not prove guilt of anticompetitive behavior or prejudge the outcome of the investigation, the Commission said.The raid comes on the heels of multiple complaints and lawsuits filed by Intel competitor Advanced Micro Devices with authorities in the European Union, U.S., Japan, South Korea, and Japan, charging Intel with monopolistic behavior.In 2006, AMD said it planned to file a complaint with German authorities regarding Intel&#39;s alleged anticompetitive behavior. AMD alleged that Intel paid German retail chain Media Markt not to stock PCs containing AMD processors, citing a letter to a supplier in which the retailer said it would only buy PCs with Intel processors.As part of ongoing inquiries into Intel&#39;s monopolistic behavior, the EC earlier raided Intel&#39;s offices in 2005. Authorities in Japan raided Intel&#39;s offices in 2004.
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The European Commission widened its investigation to determine if Intel pressured an electronics retailer to exclude chips made by Advanced Micro Devices.
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The European Commission has begun two new antitrust investigations of Microsoft, including one probe into Microsoft's tactic of bundling software products with its Windows OS.
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The European Commission said on Wednesday that France, the Netherlands, Sweden and Finland had unfairly favored Intel in public contracts for computer equipment.
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Four new investigations involve chips and computing devices, including possible patent violations.
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The documents in question were brought to court during Intel&#39;s legal battle with Intergraph. AMD believes they show its arch-rival to be guilty of anti-competitive behaviour, which is why it wanted the EC to take a look.
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Officials of the European Commission stated this morning they may be ready to pursue antitrust charges against Intel, based on information they've acquired regarding possible company misconduct in relation to the German retail electronics market.
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The European Commission has asked four European Union countries to justify why they favour Intel processors in computers for public authorities.
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BRUSSELS -- The European Commission has asked four European Union (E.U.) countries to justify why they favor Intel Corp. processors in computers for public authorities, it announced Wednesday.
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Intel, the world's biggest computer chipmaker, is being investigated by the New York Attorney General.