Intergraph CEO: FTC Probes Intel On Its Own

Welcome Guest. | Log In| Register | Membership Benefits

May 29, 1998 (12:00 AM EDT)

Intergraph's CEO said his company, which is suing Intel for anticompetitive behavior, has not actively helped the U.S. Federal Trade Commission in its probe of the chip maker's business practices.

Jim Meadlock said he only had one brief conversation with FTC officials about his Intergraph's claims against Intel, but is assuming the agency has culled publicly available records about the Intergraph-Intel lawsuit in federal court.

"I've only talked to the FTC by telephone once," Meadlock said.

Intergraph, a Huntsville, Ala.-based maker of workstations, sued Intel last year and charged that the chip giant used coercive tactics to get the company to give up patent rights to certain technology.

U.S. District Court Judge Edward Nelson granted Intergraph a preliminary injunction last month, forcing Intel, in Santa Clara, Calif., to hand over production chips and early production chips, include Intergraph as a member of its Intel Inside program, and release product information it had been holding back during the dispute. Nelson, in a lengthy ruling, said evidence shows Intel sought to use its market power and control over new chip technology to coerce Intergraph into ceding some patent rights.

The judge also said the FTC was building its own case based on allegations that Intel may have acted similarly with other companies.

"We kind of got screwed by Intel over the past couple of years as it tried to force us to give away patent rights," Meadlock said. Still, the Intergraph's CEO said, his company has not been aggressively seeking FTC intervention.

Meadlock also said he knows of no contact made with his company by Congress or any states attorneys general -- which are probing Microsoft's business practices.

While Intergraph was successful in winning a preliminary injunction from Nelson, the case itself is still proceeding in U.S. District Court in Birmingham, Ala. Intel lost an attempt last week to have the proceeding moved to federal court in its home state of California.

Intel executives were not immediately available for comment.