As per a latest report, world’s number one chip maker Intel Corp has agreed to pay $6.5 million to resolve an antitrust lawsuit. In the lawsuit, New York's attorney general accused Intel for threatening computer makers and paying billions of dollars of kickbacks to maintain its market dominance.
It is worth noticing that the latest settlement has ended a November 2009 Delaware case brought by Andrew Cuomo, then New York's attorney general and now governor.
It is reportedly said thatCuomo had accused Intel of violating state and federal antitrust law.
The lawsuit claims that Intel had used various rebates and marketing dollars to keep customers and to maintain its stringhold in chip market. Also, the company threatened people to take away such rebates if they diverted their business with AMD or other competitors. For instance, Mr. Cuomo insisted that Intel had signed agreements with PC makers including Dell Inc, Hewlett-Packard Co and International Business Machines Corp for exclusive use of its microprocessors in exchange for large payments.
Interestingly, Intel's $6.5 million payment represents less than five hours of profit for the Santa Clara, California-based company, based on reported net income of $12.94 billion for 2011.
ITVoir NewsDesk |