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EU Slaps Intel With Formal Antitrust Charges

Posted by Zonk on from the they-do-ed-it dept.

castrox writes "Intel is now facing a prolonged legal battle in the European Union for engaging in anti-competitive practices. The courts allege that Intel made at least one arrangement in Germany to ensure that PC manufacturers could only use their products. From the article: 'The investigation in Europe has been going on for a long time. Intel's European offices were raided by EU investigators in 2005. Last year, AMD filed a formal complaint with the Bundeskartellamt, the German Federal Cartel Office, accusing a German and Intel of entering into an agreement under which the German retailer would only sell Intel PCs in exchange for undisclosed payments from Intel. The EC quickly took over that investigation from the Bundeskartellamt.'"

3 of 62 comments (clear)

  1. Re:what is fundamentally wrong about it? by ObsessiveMathsFreak · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Capitalism is a force. Used wisely, it can be of great benefit. Left to its own devices, capitalism can trample the very society that supports it. It needs to have limits.

    Left alone, agreements like this can erode the supposed free market in which they exists, leading to monopoly, reduced quality and higher prices. We have anti-trust agreements to protect consumers and producers. You may believe in some pure and unadulterated laissez faire market system, but the fact is that has been proven to be unworkable, no matter how many poor excuses are thrown up.

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    May the Maths Be with you!
  2. Monopoly: AMD can't even give chips away. by Visaris · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Comments by AMD's Hector Ruiz really struck a cord with me:

    www.cbronline.com

    In the case of HP, he said, AMD could not even give away a million processors for free, due to the fear of the potential of Intel punishing the PC maker.

    If you trust Ruiz, this comment should be all you need to know. If Intel is being such a monopolistic bitch that AMD can't even give away chips to HP, I wonder what other cases are going undocumented. I really hope AMD gets the monetary compensation they deserver, as I promise you that Intel's anti-competitive tactics aren't helping the consumer any.

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    I am a viral sig. Please help me spread.
  3. Re:US Companies by mean+pun · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Why does the EU always seem to come down on US-based companies that control a large portion of specific markets?

    Because

    • US media, including /., rarely report on cartels involving no US-based companies: for example, for some reason people in the US don't seem to be well-informed about the beer, paper, banana, gas switchgear, and rubber cartels (from just the first two Google pages on 'european commission cartel').
    • US-based companies sell lots of stuff in Europe, and therefore have plenty of opportunity to do illegal or suspect things: there is a reason North-Korean companies are rarely sued.