Intel Fined $1.45 Billion

[Tywais]

May 13th, 2009

EC: Intel 'abused dominant position' vs AMD; fined record $1.45 billion in antitrust case

"The European Commission on Wednesday fined Intel a record €1.06 billion, or about $1.446 billion, for abusing its dominance in the computer chip market to exclude longtime rival AMD."

"Kroes said Intel “used illegal anticompetitive practices to exclude its only competitor and reduce consumers’ choice — and the whole story is about consumers,” adding that Intel’s practices “undermined innovation.”

Source: ZDNet

[Phil Conners]

^ Good news. Haven't bought Intel processors for many years, don't intend to start now the price of Intel processors will be going up to cover this fine.

Now if they could get on M$ as well and fine them similarly

[webfact]

^ Good news. Haven't bought Intel processors for many years, don't intend to start now the price of Intel processors will be going up to cover this fine.

Now if they could get on M$ as well and fine them similarly

Trust they did that before: http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-275609.html

[Tywais]

Now if they could get on M$ as well and fine them similarly

Ah, but they did. They had to remove their Media Player from the EU distributions as part of the court order.

EU Fines Microsoft Another $1.3 Billion for Antitrust Abuse

//edit - webfact beat me to it again.

[webfact]

Now if they could get on M$ as well and fine them similarly

Ah, but they did. They had to remove their Media Player from the EU distributions as part of the court order.

EU Fines Microsoft Another $1.3 Billion for Antitrust Abuse

//edit - webfact beat me to it again.

You are most welcome!

"Make assurance double sure"

[Boater]

and where does the ' fine ' money go ? and what is it spent on

[H2oDunc]

and where does the ' fine ' money go ? and what is it spent on

It is spent on unelected, greedy, un democratic corrupt MEP's to fine companies so they can use the money to force other countries to bend to their demands. If ever there was another reason needed to get the hel_l out of the EU here it is! I would refuse to pay them till they produced signed off accounts for THEIR company ie the EU. OH thats right the accountants have refused to sign off the accounts for the last 13 years due to the amount of unaccountable, read STOLEN, money. When the EU can behave like the companies it tries to control then OK. Till then tell them to go sing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[OriginalPoster]

and where does the ' fine ' money go ? and what is it spent on

It is spent on unelected, greedy, un democratic corrupt MEP's to fine companies so they can use the money to force other countries to bend to their demands. If ever there was another reason needed to get the hel_l out of the EU here it is! I would refuse to pay them till they produced signed off accounts for THEIR company ie the EU. OH thats right the accountants have refused to sign off the accounts for the last 13 years due to the amount of unaccountable, read STOLEN, money. When the EU can behave like the companies it tries to control then OK. Till then tell them to go sing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You mean the money doesn't go the the party that the court rules was harmed by Intel's actions (AMD)?

[Phil Conners]

and where does the ' fine ' money go ? and what is it spent on

It is spent on unelected, greedy, un democratic corrupt MEP's to fine companies so they can use the money to force other countries to bend to their demands. If ever there was another reason needed to get the hel_l out of the EU here it is! I would refuse to pay them till they produced signed off accounts for THEIR company ie the EU. OH thats right the accountants have refused to sign off the accounts for the last 13 years due to the amount of unaccountable, read STOLEN, money. When the EU can behave like the companies it tries to control then OK. Till then tell them to go sing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Another EU hater trying to derail the topic.

[nikster]

This is a prime example why the EU is good. Who else is going to enforce anti-trust laws? And who else could come up with a punishment that can hurt a huge mega-corporation like Intel.

If what the commission found is true - and I tend to believe it - then Intel did in deed engage in anti-competitive behavior of the worst kind. Paying companies off to not use the competition's product? That's crazy.

Clearly you have to see it in context - at the time when Intel did this, they were getting killed by AMD Athlons and Opterons, this was probably long before Core and Core 2 processors. Nowadays I would not be surprised if Intel was clean - after all their products are much better than AMDs now, and so they don't need to resort to illegal tactics to keep the upper hand. We are left to wonder what would have happened if AMD had been able to reap the full rewards of its better tech at the time - perhaps we'd live in a more 50/50 world by now, perhaps they'd have used the money to create a Core 2 competitor quicker and better?

What I am wondering is where the American justice system is on this. And I think they have all been bought by these corporation, excuse me, "lobbied" by lobby groups.

[Phil Conners]

Clearly you have to see it in context - at the time when Intel did this, they were getting killed by AMD Athlons and Opterons, this was probably long before Core and Core 2 processors. Nowadays I would not be surprised if Intel was clean - after all their products are much better than AMDs now, and so they don't need to resort to illegal tactics to keep the upper hand. We are left to wonder what would have happened if AMD had been able to reap the full rewards of its better tech at the time - perhaps we'd live in a more 50/50 world by now, perhaps they'd have used the money to create a Core 2 competitor quicker and better?

Such nonsense. AMD makes 2, 3 and 4 core CPU's just as fast as Intel but at half the price.

[H2oDunc]

and where does the ' fine ' money go ? and what is it spent on

It is spent on unelected, greedy, un democratic corrupt MEP's to fine companies so they can use the money to force other countries to bend to their demands. If ever there was another reason needed to get the hel_l out of the EU here it is! I would refuse to pay them till they produced signed off accounts for THEIR company ie the EU. OH thats right the accountants have refused to sign off the accounts for the last 13 years due to the amount of unaccountable, read STOLEN, money. When the EU can behave like the companies it tries to control then OK. Till then tell them to go sing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Another EU hater trying to derail the topic.

Another MEP on holiday are we ? Or just somebody who like the EU doesn't like people having an opinion ? As for trying to derail the post what was your contribution with the above post ?