10 Year Old $1.3B Intel Antitrust Fine Revisited

FrgMstr

FrgMstr

Just Plain Mean
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Remember 10 years ago when the European Union fined Intel $1.3 Billion for antitrust practices in the EU? Are you surprised that the fine has not yet been paid, and is still in court today? Me either. We have seen this huge fine written about over and over and over. It is back again today. Whodathunkit? Thanks grtitan for the linkage. I think this quote says it all. “The bottom line for Intel,” Mr. Anderson added, “is that Intel lives to fight another day.”

It did not strike down the original ruling, but experts said the decision to send the case back to a lower court was a good sign for businesses looking to offer rebates to customers in exchange for exclusivity deals.
 
Honestly, I wished they got fined, but only if that money or a big chunk of it ended in AMD hands, if not, let it stall in court hell forever.
 
leathco016 said:
Not much of a point in a fine if they just aren't going to pay it.
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If they have to finally pay it there will be assets inside the EU that any state officer can put a sticker on and call it "confiscated", works with buildings, ships, bank accounts, etc etc... No way for Intel not to pay it once due, 100% not !
 
The money is in the hands of the EU. If Intel gets success with the appeal they get the money back.
 
I wonder how much they've paid in legal fees during this long process... Eventually, it might be cheaper to just pay the fine.
 
I actually love Europe, but the way they try to extort money from big companies that more or less earned their position... not so much. I mean yes, some of these companies can be underhanded, but what large corp isn't a bit. Still, the things they choose to get uptight over aren't remotely the things I would.
 
What are you talking about?

Intel got caught red handed paying companies to use their chips instead of AMD's. That shit should be illegal anywhere.
 
Master_shake_ said:
1.3 billion can buy a lot of billable hours.

this is weird though.

i think my utter hatred of the EU makes me see intel as the underdog.
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If it makes you feel better, Intel was also getting the attention of the FTC, Japanese Trade Commission, and Korea Fair Trade Commission for violating anti-trust laws. They were breaking fair competition laws far and wide back then as a way to prevent Athlon from gaining marketshare despite having the superior product at the time. And what do you know, it worked!
 
J3RK said:
I actually love Europe, but the way they try to extort money from big companies that more or less earned their position... not so much. I mean yes, some of these companies can be underhanded, but what large corp isn't a bit. Still, the things they choose to get uptight over aren't remotely the things I would.
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So you say its ok to cheat and its evil to fine the entities that do? Where is the line drawn then?
 
mesyn191 said:
What are you talking about?

Intel got caught red handed paying companies to use their chips instead of AMD's. That shit should be illegal anywhere.
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But its not illegal almost anywhere which is the problem with anti trust cases once a company gets large enough suddenly what was called good business is called wrong. And this inconsistency is where the court cases can drag on forever. Exclusive deals and big payoffs are absolutely par for the course in every sector. Let's take Apple, imagine if Apple took 90% OF the desktop market, suddenly the very essence of their entire business would be under fire, and people would demand they open their platform up, sell their OS to other builders etc.....
 
rudy said:
But its not illegal almost anywhere
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Did you not see tetris42's post a little ways up the page or what? Here is the really relevant part for you in case you missed it:
tetris42 said:
If it makes you feel better, Intel was also getting the attention of the FTC, Japanese Trade Commission, and Korea Fair Trade Commission for violating anti-trust laws.
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I'm sure if you want to be real pedantic there is a country somewhere what they did is perfectly legal but when most of the rest of the world is calling BS you're kinda full of it to try and make the argument you're making here.

rudy said:
And this inconsistency is where the court cases can drag on forever.
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Did you even read the article? That is not even close to what is happening here.

rudy said:
Exclusive deals and big payoffs are absolutely par for the course in every sector.
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I love how the hardforum's Uber Free Market Capitalists in thread are totally cool with a major player in a given market rigging the market in their favor to enable themselves to become a monopoly rather than competing on the merits of their products.
 
Shintai said:
So you say its ok to cheat and its evil to fine the entities that do? Where is the line drawn then?
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Not necessarily, but I don't exactly look upon the EU as a benevolent entity either. They aren't trying to fine companies like Google, Intel, Microsoft out of the goodness of their hearts, and then giving that money to said companies' competitors (hurt by anti-competitive practices) to try and even the playing field. What precisely do you think the EU will do with that 1.3B?

It would be nice if large companies didn't behave in shitty ways. It would be nice if governing bodies didn't act the same way, but in the name of fairness.

Edited for clarity.
 
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J3RK said:
Not necessarily, but I don't exactly look upon the EU as a benevolent entity either. They aren't trying to fine companies like Google, Intel, Microsoft out of the goodness of their hearts, and then giving that money to said companies' competitors to try and even the playing field. What precisely do you think the EU will do with that 1.3B?

It would be nice if large companies didn't behave in shitty ways. It would be nice if governing bodies didn't act the same way, but in the name of fairness.
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Why would they give their competitors the money? The money as such goes indirectly back to the consumers where it belongs.

When was the last time DoJ gave money to competitors?

They fine said companies and many others because they break the rules. Plain simple.

And the same companies speculate and even plan on breaking the rules on purpose, because the benefit is greater than the risk.
 
Shintai said:
Why would they give their competitors the money? The money as such goes indirectly back to the consumers where it belongs.

When was the last time DoJ gave money to competitors?

They fine said companies and many others because they break the rules. Plain simple.

And the same companies speculate and even plan on breaking the rules on purpose, because the benefit is greater than the risk.
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It's not indirectly going anywhere that it should go period. (consumers, competitors hurt directly by anti-competitive practices) It'll line someone's pockets, legal counsel perhaps. You have an interesting view of the world. (not being a jerk saying that, but your opinion on this definitely differs from mine) Consumers are not really going to reap any benefit from this entire scenario.
 
Shintai said:
And the same companies speculate and even plan on breaking the rules on purpose, because the benefit is greater than the risk.
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This is the problem right here. Once upon a time, even executives at big companies went to prison for breaking the law.
 
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