Intel wins key ruling in class-action suit

From InfoWorld: A court-appointed special master has rejected class-action status in an antitrust lawsuit against Intel, determining that the plaintiffs failed to show that PC buyers were harmed by discounts Intel offered to manufacturers.

The complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in Delaware in 2005, consolidates more than 80 separate cases that generally accuse Intel of wrongfully offering discounts to computer manufacturers and causing computer prices to be artificially inflated.

The consolidated complaint mirrors the separate antitrust lawsuit that AMD filed in the same court, presided over by the same judge, U.S. District Court Judge Joseph Farnan. Intel paid $1.25 billion last November to settle that case, in which it admitted no wrongdoing.

Farnan appointed a "special master" to review claims in the consolidated complaint.

Discounts to manufacturers such as Dell and Hewlett-Packard played a central role in both the AMD case and the consolidated complaint. Intel discounts to PC makers effectively caused them to reject use of AMD chips, bolstering Intel's dominance in the market, complainants argued.

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