Intel Agrees to $50 Rebates for Some Computer Buyers

Intel Corp. has agreed to pay rebates to customers who bought computer chips with speeds that didn’t match advertising claims as part of a tentative settlement of a class-action lawsuit.

Computer users accused Santa Clara-based Intel of intentionally falsifying test results on chips in the much-advertised Pentium processors to make them look faster.

Under the proposed settlement, reached earlier this month and which requires approval by a judge in San Francisco, users will get $50 back when they buy a replacement processor. Intel said Monday that testers made a mistake in calculating the chips’ speed and denied that the tests were falsified.

When the problem was uncovered in January 1996, Intel alerted the public immediately, spokesman Chuck Mulloy said.

The rebate covers customers who bought computers with 120- or 133-megahertz Pentium processors from Oct. 23, 1995, to Jan. 5, 1996.

Intel shares fell 75 cents to close at $85.69 on Nasdaq.

Meanwhile, Digital Equipment Corp. has agreed to return secret documents to Intel about a powerful chip Intel has in the works.

Digital sued Intel in May, accusing it of infringing patents. Intel retaliated by suing Digital for the return of the documents.