Intel antitrust trial in February cancelled

Intel Corp won't face a February trial in an antitrust suit filed by New York state officials who claim the chipmaker attempted to monopolise the market, a federal judge ruled. US District Judge Leonard Stark in Wilmington, Delaware, on Friday cancelled the February 14 trial while lawyers for Intel, the world's largest semiconductor maker, and the state of New York set up a schedule to hold arguments about whether the case should be dismissed. New York sued Santa Clara, California-based Intel in November 2009, accusing it of using threats and billions of dollars in illegal payments to pressure and unfairly persuade computer manufacturers to use the company's chips. An Intel spokeswoman, Laura Anderson, didn't immediately return calls seeking comment on the judge's ruling. Danny Kanner, a spokesman for New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, declined in an email to comment on the decision. Article continues below Intel has battled allegations over the years that its salespeople engaged in anticompetitive behaviour. The company has paid more than $2.7 billion to resolve antitrust litigation over its chips. Schneiderman's predecessor, Andrew Cuomo, accused Intel of engaging in illegal business practices to cement its dominance of the market for microprocessor chips. Those tactics stifled competition from Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and artificially inflated the prices consumers paid for computers, Cuomo, who is now New York's governor, said in the suit. Stark, who will preside over the trial, already threw out some of the claims, including one seeking triple damages for anticompetitive acts. The judge also narrowed the scope of the case by saying New York can only focus on computer purchases for a three-year period.