New York Attorney General Agrees to Terminate Antitrust Lawsuit Against Intel

[Cristian_25H]

Intel Corporation and the New York Attorney General have agreed to terminate the lawsuit alleging violation of U.S. and state antitrust laws that was filed by the New York Attorney General in November 2009.

The agreement, which follows a December 2011 court ruling that greatly reduced the scope of the New York Attorney General's lawsuit, expressly states that Intel does not admit either any violation of law or that the allegations in the complaint are true, and it calls for no changes to the way Intel does business. The agreement includes a payment of $6.5 million from Intel that is intended only to cover some of the costs incurred by the New York Attorney General in the litigation.



"Following recent court rulings in Intel's favor that significantly and appropriately narrowed the scope of this case, we were able to reach an agreement with New York to bring to an end what remained of the case. We have always said that Intel's business practices are lawful, pro-competitive and beneficial to consumers, and we are pleased this matter has been resolved," said Doug Melamed, senior vice president and general counsel at Intel.

A copy of the agreement is available at www.intel.com/pressroom/legal/nyag.htm.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[chaotic_uk]

who did they pay off , not like them to drop a lawsuit tbh

 

[NC37]

We'll know if suddenly antitrust charges are brought on AMD ;D

 

[Completely Bonkers]

The agreement includes a payment of $6.5 million from Intel that is intended only to cover some of the costs incurred by the New York Attorney General in the litigation.

Wait. The NY AG has no case. Yet Intel has to "pay them off" to close the case they brought against Intel.

$6.5 million costs? You mean the "costs" of some fat salaries and bonuses of the legal team running that office! And if not bonuses, sounds like one hell of an after-party!

 

[wickerman]

I love how these things end..."we did nothing wrong, we admit no guilt, but we will pay you a large sum of money". It just has absolute corruption written all over it, to the point that it is just stupid

If Intel did nothing wrong, then the Attorney General's office and the City of New York should pay the cost of investigating a BS claim and these people should lose their jobs...or shove that blame on the party that requested the investigation in the first place.

IF everything WAS on the level, then a private company should not have to pay a fee for the right to be investigated, that's just extortion

If they found Intel was operating in violation of some law or code of ethics, and they are taking this money in exchange for dropping those charges...then this is bribery and these corrupt a-holes should all go to jail...

 

[xenocide]

With how long these cases take and how much a team of attorney's cost, it's probably more cost effective for Intel to just pony up the 6.5m and move on--even if they did nothing wrong.

 

[Salsoolo]

usa sounds like my third world country more and more everyday xD [/joke]

 

[a111087]

usa sounds like my third world country more and more everyday xD </joke>

it's not funny, because it is true

 

[wickerman]

With how long these cases take and how much a team of attorney's cost, it's probably more cost effective for Intel to just pony up the 6.5m and move on--even if they did nothing wrong.

Yea that may be true, it does happen even on the most basic levels. Hell even talking with managers at local retailers like Target or Best Buy, they actually just let people steal stuff and make no attempt what so ever to stop them. Even if they have security guards there, they are not allowed to chase them or attempt to knock them down or anything. They can't do that in case they get sued, and the fact that a trial - even one leading to a guilty verdict - would cost more than what would likely be stolen. So most of these guys just factor in a set value each month of what they expect to be stolen off their floor..really pretty sickening too.

I'm ashamed to call myself an American sometimes

 

[seronx]

http://ycharts.com/companies/INTC/long_term_debt

Intel is trying to earn debt any way it can the USD is so depreciated it is actually better to be in debt than to be rich but we are diving into a different topic
^for the third world comment

But, this is usual for Intel

 

[IceCreamBarr]

6.5$MM over 27 months = $240,740/month. Monthly salary range of Dept Justice: $5,323 - $14,752. Average monthly salary = $10,037

http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Employer=U.S._Department_of_Justice/Salary

So if I get this strait, the NY Attorney General's office has had 24 full time lawyers (from junior to senior) working 27 months, non stop, on this case.

Does that sound overkill to anyone?

The Gov't is non profit remember so they are not allowed to make a cent extra than what it cost them to run the investigation... if the Gov't receives more than the cost, this would have to be deemed a penalty. No penalty in this case.

How does the Attorney General's office justify this cost? I haven't read much on this so if anyone can clarify it would be appreciated.

 

[IceCreamBarr]

I read the release by the Attorney General's Office. The $6.5MM only covers PART of the costs incurred. There is no reason given on how that amount was arrived at and the "loss" not covered by the $6.5 is not mentioned... so how much is the tax payer eating?

If Intel is guilty of something, and should pay $6.5MM, why isn't their a judgement against them? If they are innocent you can bet 100% they will not give a cent... appeal after appeal is what would happen. So how do we come to the road we are at now? I really don't follow this; to me, this is like wanting to fold in poker but you throw a few chips in the middle before saying fold. No logical reason for Intel paying $6.5MM.

 

[IceCreamBarr]

Summary of Intel's Response to NYAG

Intel's Response to the New York Attorney General's Complaint

On November 3, 2009, the New York Attorney General ("NYAG") filed a complaint against Intel in Delaware alleging that Intel violated antitrust law. The NYAG alleges that Intel obtained exclusive or near-exclusive agreements from large computer makers "in exchange for payments totaling billions of dollars, and threatening retaliation against any company that did not heed its wishes. . . ." (Id.) Using colorful language, snippets of email communications out of context, and ignoring directly contradictory testimony, the NYAG further accuses Intel of "bribing or coercing OEMs either not to offer, or severely limit, AMD CPUs." (Id. at ¶ 40) Intel strongly disputes the NYAG's allegations. We explain below some of the basic factual and legal problems with the NYAG's complaint and why Intel believes this complaint is without any merit. Intel will follow-up with a more detailed analysis once we have completed and filed our formal answer on December 11, 2009.


""Too much work with the sizes. switching to bold.""

The NYAG's Complaint is Grounded More in Rhetoric and Politics than Fact and Law Rather than setting forth a clear statement of facts upon which its claim is based, the NYAG's allegations are deliberately inflammatory, apparently made for the political purpose of providing sound bites for media attention. The NYAG's conscious decision to use repeatedly the legal term "bribery," to characterize Intel's discounting, for example, is an outrageous hijacking of the meaning of language. As even the NYAG concedes, Intel provides rebates, or credits, against amounts owed to Intel, to reduce the cost of microprocessors to its customers. This is common in business and in every day life. A "bribe," on the other hand, is a well-known legal concept. It means offering a payment to induce an employee of a company to breach a fiduciary duty to his or her employer -- not a discount offered to the company to win more business. When a person goes to the store and is offered a lower price, no one considers that a bribe. Yet, that's what the NYAG is attempting to argue in its case.

The NYAG certainly knows the legal definition of a "bribe," and that it is not even remotely applicable in this case. As we explain below, the discounting that Intel does has been endorsed by the Supreme Court as activity protected by the antitrust laws, not condemned. But even beyond the complaint itself, "bribery" figured prominently in the NYAG's statements to the press and the headlines generated by the filing of the complaint. It is unfortunate that Intel must defend itself from such clearly unfounded and scurrilous characterization, but it illustrates the core problem with the NYAG's lawsuit – it is not grounded in fact and law, and betrays a fundamental lack of understanding of the complex dynamics of the microprocessor business.

 

[Completely Bonkers]

These another spin on this IceCreamBarr. Intel's lawyers or executives are a damn sight smarter than NYAG. They have just "bought" or corrupted NYAG. Now they have the dirt and evidence (ie. inappropriate payments) that could end a NYAG director's career and put them in jail. So NYAG fell for the bait, and now will forever remain silent under risk of being exposed and outed. Clever Intel. It's all politics and corruption after all