Antitrust battle will go on despite AMD-Intel settlement

From InfoWorld: The antitrust battle between Intel and Advanced Micro Devices isn't necessarily over, despite a settlement agreement announced by the microprocessor companies.

Last week, the companies agreed to set aside their disagreements and drop several lawsuits, including antitrust lawsuits brought by AMD and a legal argument over whether the terms of a previous cross-licensing agreement permitted AMD manufacturing spin-off GlobalFoundries to manufacture x86 processors for AMD. In return, Intel agreed to fork over $1.25 billion to AMD.

"While the relationship between the two companies has been difficult in the past, this agreement ends the legal disputes and enables the companies to focus all of our efforts on product innovation and development," they said in a joint statement.

However, the settlement agreement, a copy of which was filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday, leaves unresolved key disagreements over Intel's alleged business practices that AMD argues are illegal.

These alleged practices -- retroactive discounts, bid buckets, and end-user discounts -- relate to antitrust lawsuits brought by the European Commission and the New York Attorney General's Office, as well as an antitrust investigation being carried out by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.

View: Article @ Source Site