European Commission fined Intel record $1.45 billion for antitrust abuses.
New York, NY(JusticeNewsFlash.com)–Intel, the world’s largest chip maker, was fined $1.45 billion by the European Commission, on Wednesday, for violating antitrust laws by skewing competition through deceptive business and marketing practices. As reported by the New York Times, Intel’s illegal anticompetitive business practices excluded it only serious competitor, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) www.amd.com, and robbed consumers of the ability to choose. Intel www.intel.com is based in Santa Clara, California, and became famous household name with their Pentium processor.
Business litigation lawyers assert this is a record fine issued by the European Commission for antitrust violations. The commission can impose fines up to 10 percent of a company’s annual global sales, which for Intel was $37.6 billion in 2008. Intel got off light based on the possible penalty with 10 percent of annual international sales equaling almost $4 billion. Microsoft held the record fine at $677 million (at current exchange rates) which the European Union (EU) imposed in March 2004. The Union found Microsoft guilty of blocking competition in media software business markets and the computer server industry.
The legal panel found Intel participated in a conspiracy to cover up its anticompetitive business practices, bullied consumers and AMD by paying computer manufacturers and computer retailers to cancel, avoid, and postpone using and buying AMD products. Corporations and businesses are not allowed to monopolize a market and the European Commission ruled Intel specifically monopolized computer makers and retailers which, at the end of the day, bullies innocent consumers by eliminating the ability to choose in a fair market.
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