Intel Antitrust Trial Delayed Until March 9

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January 20, 1999 (5:33 PM EST)

By Mary Mosquera,

The trial of Federal Trade Commission's antitrust suit against chip maker Intel has been pushed back to March 9, the agency said Wednesday.

The administrative court hearing at the FTC was to start Feb. 23 with the FTC's Chief Administrative Law Judge James Timony presiding, but the suit has been delayed several times now. A final prehearing conference will take place March 5.

Intel has failed to produce documents according to FTC court dates. "The delay in the production of documents has caused a delay in the deposition schedule," Timony said in a court order. As a result, both Intel and the FTC have requested more time to prepare their cases.

In June, the FTC slapped antitrust charges against Santa Clara, Calif.- based Intel, saying it had used its monopoly in the microprocessor market to deny three of its customers and potential competitors access to technical information needed to develop products based on Intel's chips.

William Baer, director of the FTC's Bureau of Competition, charged at the time that Intel retaliated against the three computer companies -- Compaq, Digital Equipment (acquired by Compaq in 1998), and workstation maker Intergraph -- when they filed patent-infringement suits against the leading chip maker.

Intel said it does not have a monopoly in the chip industry and must compete aggressively with other companies, such as Advanced Micro Devices. Competition exists in the low-end consumer chips market, but the high-end is an Intel monopoly, according to the FTC. Richard Parker is the FTC's lead attorney. Robert Cooper of the Los Angeles law firm Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher represents Intel.