Intel Responds to FTC Complains and Lawsuit

Following the decision taken by the FTC to sue Intel for its unfair business practices on the CPU, GPU and software market, the founder responded:

The lawsuit filed by the FTC is misguided and unwarranted. Put simply, Intel has not violated the law. Litigation was not our choice, but, now that we have been sued, we will aggressively defend ourselves, and we look forward to a successful resolution of the FTC's claims.

This lawsuit is not based on claims that Intel violated the existing antitrust laws. Instead, the FTC is advocating new rules regulating business conduct. Those rules would harm, not help, competition and would reduce incentives for companies to invest in research and development and other pro-competitive activities.

This lawsuit will cost the taxpayers tens of millions of dollars, but it will not help American consumers. Instead of litigation, the issues could and should have been resolved by a voluntary settlement between Intel and the FTC. Over the past weeks, we had been progressing toward a settlement of all outstanding issues with the FTC. What brought us to litigation was the 11th hour addition of new issues related to graphics and benchmarks ‹ some
of which were first mentioned to Intel as recently as December 8 and none of which was fully investigated. In addition, the FTC asked for remedies that would have made it impossible for Intel to conduct its legitimate business. The news issues and settlement demands left Intel with no choice but to litigate.

Intel respects the Federal Trade Commission and its staff who have worked on this matter. But, today we have been sued as the price for refusing to agree to demands that would have been bad for our company, bad for the computer industry and bad for consumers. We expect that Intel will now have a full and fair opportunity to present all of the facts and evidence that demonstrate why this lawsuit is misguided. We look forward to doing so.

In this answer, Intel already defines its defense and once more try to play the role of the poor victim, ignoring the accusation of unfair business practices and dominant market position. It will certainly take years before the lawsuit ends, except if Intel and the FTC find a settlement, it will only be a matter of hundreds of millions of USD...