A service of Semiconductor Business News, CMP Media Inc.
Story posted 7 p.m. EST/4 p.m. PST, 3/1/99
Intel says government expert
admits no evidence of wrongdoing
By Jack Robertson
WASHINGTON -- Intel Corp. argued in a pretrial brief released today that
the government's own expert witness admitted he could find no evidence
that Intel had "diminished innovation by industry" in withholding proprietary
data from Digital Equipment Corp., Compaq Computers Corp., and
Intergraph Corp.
The brief quoted Frederic Scherer, professor of corporate management at
Harvard University, in a deposition saying that he "could not find evidence"
of any Intel conduct that "would adversely affect the R&D expenditure of
adversely affect price competition" by any other companies in the industry.
Intel reiterated its position that the firm declined to give advance sensitive
proprietary details of microprocessors under development to the three
companies because of patent infringement suits each had filed against Intel.
Intel said it feared any advance information it gave Digital Equipment,
Compaq or Intergraph could be used against it in the law suits.
The brief said Intel is selective in firms that receive such early notice of next
generation microprocessors. Intel said it has three different "color books" of
data - yellow, orange and red in ascending order of sensitivity. Various
customers get access to one or more of the books, the brief said. Intel said
the firm's right to protect its intellectual property still had no adverse effect
on microprocessor competition. It cited Digital Equipment's own claim to
having the most advanced MPU on the market, as well as rival processors
from Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Motorola, Sun, National Semiconductor and
Integrated Device Technology (IDT).
Ironically, Advanced Micro Devices Inc. wasn't acknowledged in the Intel
brief, except for the statement, "The [government] is reduced to adopting the
theory espoused by Intel competitor and frequent litigation adversary,
AMD."
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