14 DAY TRIAL // Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes says that the possible trial was dictated by the necessity to control INTEL's business on the E.U. since its activity could pose a bigger threat to E.U. companies than even Microsoft. And you all remember what happened to Microsoft and the E.U., don't you?
Reverting back to the trial issue, Neelie Kroes was asked to formally charge INTEL on grounds of illegal business tactics. E.U. investigators have been working on the INTEL case since 2000 and are rumored to have gathered a lot of evidence that sustains the E.U.'s story. But the road doesn't end here, because AMD has also filed a complaint in which they point out that INTEL has monopolized the I.T. business sector in various parts of the E.U. and that they keep a high pressure on 3rd party system integrators.
AMD's complaint tells an interesting story about how INTEL doesn't offer the buyers their usual discount if they have more than 20% of their stock filled with AMD products. Moreover, it seems that INTEL has also bribed several suppliers and told them not to buy AMD products. This strategy is somewhat similar to what happened in the U.S. some 2-3 years ago, so it doesn't come as a surprise.
At the moment, Kroes has not taken the decision to sue INTEL. But that doesn't mean things will stay as they are. If the final decision is not to legally attack INTEL, 6 years of investigation will be completely lost. Kroes says that a decision is hard to take in this matter because things are even more complex than the Union's antitrust case against Microsoft.