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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European Commission investigators have raided the offices of Intel Germany in Munich as part of a wide-ranging probe into alleged antitrust violations by the world's largest chipmaker. A European Union spokesperson said the raid is ongoing but refused to divulge the reasons.
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European Union antitrust regulators raided Intel Corp. offices and computer retailers on Tuesday seeking evidence they may have broken rules to ensure competition in the market for computer chips, the European Commission and Intel said.
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Monday blues? Chip giant Intel will today file its response to formal anti-competitive charges levelled by the European Commission.â¦
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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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(InfoWorld) - European Commission antitrust officials investigating computer chip maker Intel presented what they believe is a watertight argument for prosecuting the firm to an internal panel of so-called devil's advocates on Tuesday, a person familiar with the investigation has said. Holding their case up to the scrutiny of the panel may indicate that the officials on the case are confident enough to push ahead with legal action. The panel was recently introduced into the antitrust investigation process in order to prevent poorly prepared cases turning into formal legal proceedings. Intel has been under investigation by the commission for the past five years. With a global market share in the computer chip market of around 80 percent, the company dwarfs its nearest rival, Advanced Micro Devices Inc., which accounts for the bulk of the remaining sales of chips around the world. Neither Intel nor the European Commission were immediately available to comment. Thomas M. McCoy, AMD's executive vice president of legal affairs, said in a recent interview he is confident the European Commission will take action to stop Intel abusing its dominance in the market. "The Intel investigation is coming to a close," he said, adding that he was confident it would result in Neelie Kroes, the competition commissioner, issuing a charge sheet, known as a statement of objections to the company. "I am optimistic she will push ahead with the lawsuit because she is independent from political pressure, both Intel and AMD are big employers in Europe, and because unlike other antitrust cases there are no complicated intellectual property issues at stake in this case," McCoy said. Last year the European Commission launched surprise visits on Intel's offices in Europe, confiscating documents in their hunt for evidence of illegal behavior. Last month the European regulator took over a separate investigation being conducted by German antitrust officials, into claims that Intel was forcing Europe's biggest computer retailer, Media Markt, only to stock computers fitted with Intel chips. Consumer groups have complained to the regulators that computer buyers are getting less choice as a result of Intel's tactics, which include granting rebates in return for loyalty from PC manufacturers. AMD's McCoy said Intel uses the threat of price increases to persuade PC makers like Sony Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co. not to build PCs around AMD's chips. "Sony used to have a model running on AMD chips at any given price range but then they went 100 percent Intel. Ultimately the consumer loses through reduced choice," he said. The devil's advocate panel includes the competition department's chief economist, Damien Neven, along with colleagues in the department who aren't involved in the Intel case. If the draft case against Intel is supported by the panel, the investigating team will propose that Kroes issue a statement of objections to the company for the first time in the five years it has spent investigating Intel.
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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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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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European Commission antitrust regulators on Tuesday raided microchip giant Intel and a number of personal computer retailers in Europe on concerns they might have stifled competition.
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com. In a signal from the European Commission that it is stepping up its investigation into possible illegal business practices by Intel, the commission is asking four European countries why they
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Sources say... The European Competition Commission is likely to press formal charges against chip giant Intel.â¦
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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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The European Commission has opened two new antitrust investigations of Microsoft&#39;s activities.The first case is in response to a complaint from the European Committee for Interoperable Systems, a Brussels-based trade group of which Opera Software is a member, and concerns the interoperability of Windows with other software, the Commission said Monday.The second investigation is looking into Microsoft&#39;s tactic of bundling software products with its Windows operating system. This follows a complaint to the Commission by Opera, a Norwegian browser developer.Both issues featured in the Commission&#39;s landmark March 2004 antitrust decision against Microsoft, which the company unsuccessfully challenged in court.(More to come.)
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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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New York state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has launched an antitrust investigation of Intel, and on Thursday, his office served a wide-ranging subpoena on the company.Cuomo is investigating whether Intel violated state and federal antitrust laws by coercing customers to exclude its main rival, Advanced Micro Devices, from the worldwide market for PC CPUs (central processing units), Cuomo said in a news release.The subpoena seeks information on Intel&#8217;s pricing practices and possible attempts to exclude competitors through its market power, Cuomo&#39;s office said.(More to come.)
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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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U.S. regulators have asked for more  information on Intel Corp's  deal with Europe's  STMicroelectronics  to combine their memory chip units,  Intel said on Thursday.