America loves monopolies. Intel fined a billion euros, FTC impotent.

[Greyhound]

In a settlement with the FTC today, Intel promised not to do it anymore. Of course, there's no penalty attached to their crimes since "The FTC cannot by law levy a fine", so they promise not to do it any more and to give developers access to it's chips for the next six years.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/techchron/detail?&entry_id=69350">From the SF Chronicle
The Federal Trade Commission settled its anti-competition case against chipmaker Intel Wednesday, extracting a wide-range of concessions that it says will preserve competition and protect consumers and semiconductor rivals.

The FTC said the settlement provides immediate relief for what it called "unfair, deceptive and anti-competitive conduct" by Intel that lasted over ten years. The commission said pursuing a formal action could have taken two to three years to complete.

The settlement is the latest turn for Intel, which has been dogged by allegations of anti-competitive behavior for years. The Santa Clara firm settled a case with chief rival AMD in November for $1.25 billion but was hit by the FTC action just weeks later. Intel was also fined $1.45 billion by the European Union last year and has also faced similar charges from South Korea and the state of New York.

--snip--

"So the sum total of all of this anti-competitive conduct was it unfairly prevented companies from competing, bolstered Intel's monopoly and harmed consumers by stunting innovation, limiting choice, diminishing quality and keeping prices higher than they otherwise would have been," said FTC chairman Jon Leibowitz in a press conference.

Steal a market worth tens of billions, have to pay back <1% of the take. Who says crime doesn't pay?

[saigon68]

1. Here come the Bonuses

Belly up to the Bar Boys (and Girls)

[Greyhound]

2. Nobody cares...

Oh well...

One more bite.

[Xolodno]

3. Current Anti Trust Laws...

...were written in 1890 (Sherman Anti Trust Act), 1914 (Clayton Anti Trust Act) and amended in 1936.

The law is so old that every corporation pretty much knows how to circumvent it.

What should be done is to have strict laws regulating Oligopolies and have "market share triggers" that put a company under a series of regulations....in other words, the bigger they get, the more regulated they become.

[Greyhound]

4. That's true, but they rarely even bother any more. Nobody's interested in enforcing them.

Clinton made a parting gesture on his way out the door, but that's it since AT&T.