Slashdot Mirror
EU Slaps Intel With Formal Antitrust Charges
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.'"
We all know litigation really helps innovation, as does vendor lock in.
I would have to believe that the product is reaching the top of the s-curve (diffusion of an innovation - ie the stock CPU), and has become a commodity, when EVERY transaction becomes about price and no longer about comparison of the technologies. At this point, looks like litigation is the only way to compete - instead of taking the food from your competitor's mouth, you try to bleed them out.
Or Intel cheated and AMD is just saying "neener-neener-boo-boo" and telling on them.
meh