14 DAY TRIAL // Intel's offices in Munich, Germany, have been raided yesterday by European Commission representatives that are involved in antitrust investigations. Intel spokespersons acknowledged the fact that the company's offices have been ransacked during the search, but claimed that the departments gave their full cooperation with the authorities.
Jonathan Todd, spokesman for the European Commission claimed that the officers inspected the premises of CPU manufacturers and PC retailers, but did not disclose which companies were affected during the raids. However, reports show that the raids also targeted the offices of the German consumer electronics vendor Media Markt and DSG International.
The raids are connected to AMD's accusing Intel of technological monopoly and antitrust practices. The European Commission said in a statement that yesterday's raid was dictated by concerns of Intel's abusing of a dominant market position. AMD has filed multiple complaints and lawsuits against Intel with authorities in the European Union, U.S., Japan, South Korea, and Japan.
"Surprise inspections are a preliminary step in investigations into suspected infringements of European Community competition law," the Commission said. "The inspections do not prove guilt of anticompetitive behavior or prejudge the outcome of the investigation", claimed the European Community antitrust watchdog.
Back in 2006, AMD claimed that it was going to file a complaint with the German Commerce Authority, as Intel was continuing to pose the same anticompetitive behavior. According to Advanced Micro Devices' filed complaint, Intel paid German retail chain Media Markt not to stock and / or distribute PCs built with AMD technology. The complaint and the subsequent lawsuit were grounded on a company letter to a German supplier, which claimed that it would only purchase Intel-based personal computers.
The European Union Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes has started a "no-tolerance" mission against cartels. Last year alone brought some 3.3 billion euros (4.7 billion dollars) in fines on members of such non-legit clubs.
Raids are not new to Intel: back in 2005, the European Union watchdog also raided Intel's offices, while the Japanese authorities did the same back in 2004.