US Federal Trade Commission files suit against Intel

The US Federal Trade Commission announced Wednesday that it had filed suit against Intel, accusing the world’s biggest computer chipmaker of illegally using its dominant market position to stifle competition.

The FTC alleged that Intel has waged a systematic campaign for a decade to shut out competing microchips produced by rivals by cutting off their access to the marketplace.

“Intel has engaged in a deliberate campaign to hamstring competitive threats to its monopoly,” said Richard Feinstein, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Competition.

“It’s been running roughshod over the principles of fair play and the laws protecting competition on the merits,” Feinstein said in a statement.

“The Commission’s action today seeks to remedy the damage that Intel has done to competition, innovation, and, ultimately, the American consumer,” he said.

The FTC complaint said Intel’s anticompetitive tactics were designed to put the brakes on superior competitive products that threatened its monopoly in the central processing unit (CPU) microchip market.

“Over the last decade, this strategy has succeeded in maintaining the Intel monopoly at the expense of consumers,” the FTC statement said. “In the process, Intel deprived consumers of choice and innovation.”

Full Story US Federal Trade Commission files suit against Intel – Yahoo! News.