The Escalating Legal Clash Between Intel, AMD

(RTTNews) -  With the chip giant Intel Corp. (INTC: News, Chart, Quote ) and its smaller rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD: News, Chart, Quote ) showing no signs of resolving their long protracted legal battle related to antitrust issues, the U.S. FTC (Federal Trade Commission) finally served a subpoena to Intel on June 4.
Intel and AMD are the two major players in microprocessor market. According to Mercury Research, a source for market information on PC Microprocessors, Intel's market share of x86 microprocessors as of the fourth quarter of fiscal 2007 was 76.7%, up from 74.4% in 2006. AMD controlled 23% of the market last year, compared with 25.3% in 2006.
Since 2006, Intel has been working closely with the FTC on an informal inquiry into competition in the microprocessor market. The FTC probe on Intel has been elevated with the issuance of a subpoena as the Commission will be now able to obtain not only information that Intel has already committed to provide but also information from other parties.
The legal tussle between Intel and AMD extends back to 2005 when AMD filed an antitrust suit against Intel in June 2005 in the U.S. District Court in Delaware. AMD alleged that Intel abused its monopoly power in the desktop CPU market to coerce PC manufacturers including Dell, Sony, Toshiba, Gateway, and Hitachi and other retail stores to boycott AMD chips and prefer Intel chips by offering them rebates. However, Intel has been refuting AMD's allegations.
It is not only in the U.S., that Intel is facing antitrust claims. Barely days after suing Intel in the U.S., AMD filed a similar antitrust complaint against Intel K.K., Intel's Japanese subsidiary in June of 2005.
In July 2006, AMD filed an antitrust suit in Germany's Federal Cartel Office against Intel after reports claimed that "Media Markt, a German chain of stores selling consumer electronics, had agreed to sell only "Intel Inside" computers in exchange for an undisclosed payment from the chip giant".
In early 2005, Japan's trade watchdog, the Fair Trade Commission or JFTC warned Intel for engaging in anticompetitive practices. In a statement issued in March 2005, JFTC said "Intel is engaging in actions to keep CPUs made by competing companies from being used." The JFTC also recommended Intel to end its practice of offering rebates to PC makers to shun competitors' products. Intel agreed to the Commission's recommendation, a move that helped the chip giant avoid a long-drawn-out legal battle.

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