July 23, 2009

AS EXPECTED, Chipzilla has decided to appeal the $1.45 billion fine walloped on it for its anticompetitive antics.

On the surface, Intel's defence sounds like it is accusing the European Competition Commission of crimes against humanity, or at least human rights abuses, for picking on the small obscure chipmaker.

However Intel's complaint is not quite as it sounds. It is not that the EU was torturing Intel executives.

Rather, according to top Intel brief Chuck Mulloy, the size of the fine was in contravention of Article Six of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights, which includes guidance for due process in legal proceedings.

Mulloy said that there has been a growing dialog among European Union lawyers and legal scholars on the increasing size of such civil fines in Europe and there are concerns about Article Six of the EU treaty.

It took the Commission eight years to decide that Intel gave secret rebates to computer manufacturers on the condition that they severely limit or completely exclude AMD from their products.