14 DAY TRIAL // The European Competition Commission sent in July 2008 a Supplementary Statement of Objections to Intel, and the latest news reports that the company missed the deadline to respond to it. The investigation performed by the commission concerns alleged anti-trust violations relating Intel's relationships with computer manufacturers. The commission sent the original Statement of Objections back in July 2007, which made clear the belief in the company's guilt of abusing its dominant position in the supply of processors. The giant chip manufacturer is said to have offered rebates to original equipment manufacturers which purchased a majority of Intel processors and left CPUs from AMD aside.
Intel was also accused of offering money to “induce an OEM to either delay or cancel the launch of a product line incorporating an AMD-based CPU”. The final accusation implied that the leading chip manufacturer was supplying partners with server processors at low costs, a move intended to eliminate AMD from the market. In July this year, the Commission added a new accusation, stating that the Santa Clara company had offered rebates to an OEM to convince it to sell only Intel-based mobile PCs.
Earlier this month, Intel went to the Court of First Instance and accused the Commission of breaches of procedure. If the company succeeds in its move, this will give it more time to respond to the accusations. “On October 14th we filed an appeal with the Court of First Instance (CFI) in Luxembourg. That appeal includes a request for interim measures that will make the October 17th deadline moot. We've filed an appeal to get more evidence in the case for the Commission to evaluate, and we are waiting on the CFI to rule on the interim measures (a delay in our filing) and the substantive issues we have raised,” said an Intel spokesman, as quoted by The Register.
The European Competition Commission stated that the antitrust case is continuing and that the chip manufacturer missed its dead line. The Commission added that it would respect the decision made by the Court of First Instance if it decided to support Intel's position. In February 2008, the Commission raided Intel and Dixons Store Group International offices in Germany and the UK. The Santa Clara chip manufacturer has been under serious investigation since AMD's complaints in 2003.