Intel's Position on the FTC Lawsuit
The lawsuit filed by the FTC is misguided and unwarranted. Put simply, Intel has not violated the law. Litigation was not our choice, but now that we have been sued we will aggressively defend ourselves and we look forward to a successful resolution of the FTC's claims.
The Commission is quite explicit that this lawsuit is not based on claims that Intel violated the existing antitrust laws. The Commission is in effect disregarding decades of guidance from the Supreme Court and the lower courts about the meaning of sound competition law. Instead, the FTC is advocating new rules for regulating and micromanaging business conduct. Those rules would harm, not help, competition and would reduce incentives for companies to invest in research and development and other pro-competitive activities.
What brought us to litigation was the addition of new issues related to graphics and benchmarks, some of which were first mentioned to Intel as recently as December 8 and none of which was fully investigated by the FTC. It is obvious from the complaint that the Commission does not understand the important aspects of the computer industry.
In addition, the FTC asked for remedies that would have made it impossible for Intel to conduct its legitimate business. The new issues and settlement demands left Intel with no choice but to litigate. Intel respects the Federal Trade Commission and its staff who have worked on this matter, but we have been sued because we were not willing to agree to demands that would have been bad for our company, bad for the computer industry and bad for consumers.
