Goutama - <we may see findings exactly same as above except with "Microsoft" replaced with "Intel", and "Netscape, IBM,Compaq,..." with "AMD,VIA,FIC,Taiwan mobo manufacturers,...".>
usatoday.com
FTC might drop antitrust probe of Intel
By Paul Davidson, USA TODAY
The Federal Trade Commission is close to dropping a broad antitrust investigation into chip giant Intel, say people familiar with the matter.
As the high-tech industry awaits an initial ruling, possibly Friday, in the Justice Department's landmark case against Microsoft, Intel, the PC industry's other dominant force, seems close to dodging a similar lawsuit. The FTC would not comment. Intel's chips, or microprocessors, are the "brains" and Microsoft's Windows operating system software is the "nervous system," that run 80% to 90% of the world's PCs. Their dominance is known as Wintel.
The FTC for the past two years has investigated complaints that Intel uses its near-monopoly in chips to muscle its way into related PC parts. A central charge is that Intel withholds access to its chip technology that would let competitors make accessory products such as chip-sets. But recently, Intel has licensed such technology, known as a "P6 bus," to several rivals. Intel spokesman Chuck Malloy says the company's decision to license the product was unrelated to the FTC's probe.
In addition, experts say courts have given companies broad latitude to deny rivals access to their technology. "It would be a desperately hard case to bring," says James Loftis, a former Justice official.
Another complaint was that Intel used its "Intel Inside" advertising campaign to quash competitive threats. For example, PC makers who received advertising subsidies from Intel allegedly had to refrain from using rival products in all their computers, say lawyers familiar with the matter.
But the company has modified that stance, requiring only that PC makers refrain from using rival products in the specific line being advertised, lawyers say. Malloy says that always was Intel's policy.
Prosecutors also were concerned about Intel's new strategy of bundling ancillary technologies with its microprocessors in low-end computers -- a practice that could shut out competitors. But other hardware makers use the same strategy because it's more efficient and cuts costs, says analyst Mark Fiebus of Mercury Research.
Regulators also are faced with a more competitive landscape in which AMD has made inroads in the chip market.
In March, the FTC and Intel settled narrower charges that Intel withheld technical information from three customers that challenged its chip patents. That smoothed relations between the FTC and Intel, making a resolution of the broader case more likely, lawyers say. |
