Competition in the Innovation Economy

Intel and AMD Settle Pending Cases

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 04:07:08 -0500

On November 12, 2009 Intel and AMD brought an end to all outstanding legal issues between the companies, including antitrust litigation and patent cross license disputes. The settlement involves several parts. AMD will drop its antitrust claims against Intel and withdraw the complaints it has made with regulators around the world. In return, Intel dropped its claims that AMD breached the 2001 patent cross-license with Intel when it spun out its manufacturing operations and created GlobalFoundries with the government of Abu Dhabi. Intel negotiated a separate deal with GlobalFoundries that allows them to manufacture product for AMD and still protects Intel's intellectual property.

The AMD antitrust case has been massive and it promised to become even more so as the date for trial came closer. The parties have exchanged more than 200 million pages of documents, conducted 2,200 hours of depositions and sent thousands of pages of expert reports to the court. Throughout this process, Intel did not waver in its conviction that Intel has operated within the bounds of the law. The company maintains it has competed fairly and legally.

While Intel and AMD have resolved our disagreements and AMD will withdraw pending complaints it has before regulators worldwide, there are other matters that Intel will continue to actively work to resolve.

View the settlement agreement (PDF 1.3MB)
View the press release

Intel Files Sanction Motion against AMD

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 04:06:58 -0400

Intel has filed a motion in Delaware seeking sanctions against Advanced Micro Devices in the pending antitrust case. Intel asserts AMD failed to adequately retain documents in the case it filed against Intel in June of 2005. Intel also asserts that AMD misrepresented its efforts and tried to hide its failures from the Court and Intel.

In March of 2007 Intel disclosed to AMD and the Court that it had experienced lapses in document retention in this case. Following that disclosure Intel embarked on a court approved plan to remediate or correct the mistakes made in the discovery process. This effort has cost Intel tens of millions of dollars and Intel believes it has complied with the plan and successfully corrected the problem consistent with approved plan. As a result Intel delivered nearly two hundred million pages of documents to AMD.

Why the European Commission's Intel Decision is Wrong

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 04:07:04 -0400

(September 21, 2009) On May 13, the European Commission announced that Intel had violated competition laws in Europe. The EC, which serves as the investigator, prosecutor, and decision-maker in EC proceedings of this type, asserted that Intel competed in a manner that transgressed the antitrust laws of the European Community, by discounting its prices, purportedly at below cost levels, to win all or most of the business of five major computer manufacturers, on the implied condition that those customers buy all or most of their microprocessors from Intel.

Intel is convinced that the Commission's conclusions regarding our business practices are wrong - both factually and legally - and we have appealed the Commission's decision. Read the full statement. (PDF 84KB)

EC Ruling: Statement by Intel President and CEO Paul Otellini

Thu, 14 May 2009 04:07:20 -0400

SANTA CLARA, Calif., May 13, 2009 – Paul Otellini, Intel Corporation president and CEO today issued the following statement regarding the European Commission decision on Intel's business practices: Read more.

Intel Notifies AMD of Cross-License Breach

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 03:07:07 -0500

Intel has notified Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) that it believes AMD has breached a 2001 patent cross-license agreement with Intel. Intel believes that Global Foundries is not a subsidiary under terms of the agreement and is therefore not licensed under the 2001 patent cross-license agreement. Intel also said the structure of the deal between AMD and ATIC breaches a confidential portion of that agreement. Intel has asked AMD to make the relevant portion of the agreement public, but so far AMD has declined to do so. AMD’s breach could result in the loss of licenses and rights granted to AMD by Intel under the agreement.

Intel Statement on European Court of First Instance Ruling on Interim Measures

Wed, 28 Jan 2009 04:06:27 -0500

(January 27, 2009) The Court of First Instance has rejected Intel's October 2008 appeal of a European Commission decision not to seek documents from Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) that rebut allegations made by AMD.

While Intel is disappointed with today's ruling on interim measures the decision has no bearing on the merits of this case. Certain AMD documents were made part of the record in the European proceeding and Intel sought to demonstrate that those documents indicated that other highly relevant documents existed. Intel asked the Commission to order AMD to provide those documents and the Commission refused. Intel respectfully disagreed, and asked the Court of First Instance to order that the documents be made available to Intel on an "interim" basis, before any further actions are taken by the Commission. Read more. (PDF 44KB)

Intel to Challenge Decision by Korea Fair Trade Commission

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 18:30:15 -0500

Intel Corporation today issued the following statement in response to the final written opinion from the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC):

Intel has filed a formal complaint with the Seoul High Court seeking to overturn the KFTC’s final written decision that was served on Intel on Nov. 7, 2008. While the specific details of the Intel complaint are confidential due to a substantial amount of highly confidential business information, the filing asserts that the KFTC has made substantial factual and legal errors in formulating its final written opinion. Read more.