Intel and AMD Settle Pending Cases
On November 12, 2009 Intel and AMD brought an end to all outstanding legal issues between the companies, including antitrust litigation and patent cross license disputes. The settlement involves several parts. AMD will drop its antitrust claims against Intel and withdraw the complaints it has made with regulators around the world. In return, Intel dropped its claims that AMD breached the 2001 patent cross-license with Intel when it spun out its manufacturing operations and created GlobalFoundries with the government of Abu Dhabi. Intel negotiated a separate deal with GlobalFoundries that allows them to manufacture product for AMD and still protects Intel's intellectual property.
The AMD antitrust case has been massive and it promised to become even more so as the date for trial came closer. The parties have exchanged more than 200 million pages of documents, conducted 2,200 hours of depositions and sent thousands of pages of expert reports to the court. Throughout this process, Intel did not waver in its conviction that Intel has operated within the bounds of the law. The company maintains it has competed fairly and legally.
While Intel and AMD have resolved our disagreements and AMD will withdraw pending complaints it has before regulators worldwide, there are other matters that Intel will continue to actively work to resolve.
Intel's Position
Since the 1990s Intel's principal competitor has been on a concerted campaign to get regulators and courts around the world to prevent Intel from competing aggressively in the market. The aggressive marketing campaign by Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) has included numerous complaints to regulators in multiple jurisdictions which all stem from the same set of allegations and source. It has included a private lawsuit in the U.S. and two in Japan. By all accounts the U.S. lawsuit could become one of largest antitrust cases in the history of U.S. Courts.
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AMD's objectives are clear; it is seeking price protection and wants to become more successful by deterring Intel from aggressive competition. Stripped of hyperbole AMD's complaints around the world accuse Intel of competing too aggressively by offering customers attractive prices and marketing, and technical support to win their business.
The microprocessor market is fiercely competitive. That competition has resulted in tremendous benefits to consumers worldwide by providing continuous improvement in technology innovation, performance and capability at consistently lower prices. Intel believes in competition and has never shied away from it. As you will see from information contained on this site Intel believes it operates well within the law.
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