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Digital threatens antitrust
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June 2, 1997: 11:41 a.m. ET
Escalating legal war could bring antitrust charges against Intel
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Digital Equipment Corp., in its escalating legal feud against Intel Corp., is threatening to bring antitrust charges against the world's largest chipmaker.
The warning follows a series of legal actions sparked by Digital's lawsuit filed May 12, alleging Intel infringed on 10 patents in the design and manufacture of its Pentium line of chips. In turn, Intel sought the return of certain documents in a countersuit filed on May 27, alleging Digital misappropriated trade secrets.
"There are no feasible alternative sources for these materials," wrote Thomas C. Siekman, vice president and general counsel at Maynard, Mass-based Digital.
"The antitrust laws prohibit Intel, as a monopolist, from denying Digital...access to information of this kind," Siekman said in a letter dated May 28 sent to Intel's general counsel F. Thomas Dunlap.
"If Intel continues its pursuit of unlawfully denying Digital access to materials needed by Digital because of Intel's market power, Digital will respond," Siekman continued.
Intel officials declined to comment.
Analysts said Digital's latest claims raises an interesting issue for Intel, which has an estimated 85-percent of the chip market for personal computers.
"You could argue that Intel does have a higher level of requirement to play with all the PC vendors on a level playing field," said Scott Randall, analyst at SoundView Financial Group.
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Digital Equipment
Intel
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