Posted on Monday, December 21 2009 @ 21:30 CET by Thomas De Maesschalck
The Tech Report
reports Intel CEO Paul Otellini believes the FTC doesn't have the power to fine Intel. This statement was made in an interview with Fox Business Network's Liz Claman.
Otellini started off by saying the FTC doesn't have the power to levy a fine. As we noted last week, the agency seeks court orders to change the chipmaker's business practices, instead. Otellini elaborated a little there, too, asserting that the FTC wants to force Intel to license its technology to competitors and prohibit the company from giving volume discounts to big customers.
Regarding the FTC's accusations, the CEO claimed "much of the stuff that's in the complaint has been settled between us and AMD." The FTC accused Intel of covertly tweaking its compiler to slow down competing processors, as well, but according to Otellini, the European Commission initially made that claim and later retracted it "because there was no substance to it." (The Commission did fine Intel $1.44 billion for other transgressions, though.)
Otellini also stated the FTC hasn't done its homework regarding claims that Intel is playing dirty in the graphics business, and said the lawsuit is truly misguided.
