AMD Can Subpoena Firms For Intel Suit

Third parties that received subpoenas from AMD for its antitrust case against Intel had been reluctant to comply, citing non-disclosure agreements with Intel.

US District Court Judge Joseph J. Farnan Jr ruled from his Delaware bench that companies receiving subpoenas from AMD can comply with them, The Inquirer reported. Apparently, many firms had refused to comply, because of their existing agreements with Intel.

AMD sued Intel in June 2005, claiming a variety of abuses by Intel. AMD CEO Hector Ruiz and his attorneys made an entertaining, human-readable version of the lawsuit available to detail their complaints, which they also supplemented with a conference call about the antitrust filing.

Among the stories emerging from the filing was one anecdote about Compaq and Intel. Former Compaq CEO Michael Capellas characterized his firm’s relationship with Intel as having “a gun to his head.” Ruiz also accused Intel of “old-fashioned threats, intimidation and ‘knee-capping’ to deter OEMs from dealing with AMD.”

Now that Judge Farnan has compelled the waiver of non-disclosure agreements with Intel by third parties, even more enlightening tales of the hyper-competitive world of processors should emerge through court testimony.

—

Drag this to your Bookmarks.