Court Sides With Intel in Antitrust Battle

Intel Corp. won a key antitrust victory as a federal appeals court lifted an order that required the chip maker to provide patented microprocessor technology to a smaller company. A Washington, D.C., appeals court said Intel probably didn’t violate antitrust laws when it withheld advance product information and samples from Intergraph Corp., a company that makes graphics chips and workstations. The 2-0 ruling lifts a legal cloud from Intel, which remains under investigation by the Federal Trade Commission on other antitrust issues. Spokesman Chuck Mulloy said Intel is “gratified [the appeals court] agreed with our arguments about some of the fundamental legal issues involved in this case.” Huntsville, Ala.-based Intergraph said it “does not anticipate that [the] ruling will impact its ongoing hardware business.” Shares of Santa Clara, Calif.-based Intel closed up 81 cents at $82.38, while Intergraph fell 19 cents to close at $3.88, both on Nasdaq.