Intel said to be missing e-mails in AMD case

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The top two executives at Intel have not complied with a company directive to retain e-mail relevant to antitrust litigation against the company, according to a published report.

The Wall Street Journal reported the Intel (Charts) admission, citing a hearing transcript released by rival Advanced Micro Devices (Charts), which has filed the antitrust action and is seeking class-action status on behalf of computer buyers.

Intel CEO Paul Otellini.

Intel has a deadline of April 10 to investigate what employees' e-mails may be missing, and then will propose a plan for recovering any that may be missing, according to the report. But among Intel executives whose e-mails have gaps are CEO Paul Otellini, Chairman Craig Barrett and Sean Maloney, an executive vice president in charge of Intel's sales and marketing, according to the report.

The paper reports that the missing e-mails could hurt the company's defense against the antitrust allegations a short gap in these executives' email could hurt AMD's case if they lead to penalties that include fines as well as adverse jury instructions. The e-mails from the three executives typically include communication with major computer makers that buy chips from Intel and AMD, lawyers representing AMD argued.

Chuck Mulloy, an Intel spokesman, declined to comment to the paper on issues or individuals mentioned in the transcript, stating that the hearing was about the process of investigating the issues rather than about what messages are missing.

"The lapses are a very small portion of the tens of millions of pages of documents" Intel will provide in the case, Mulloy told the Journal. "There is no evidence whatsoever that any relevant emails or documents have been lost."

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