Intel bang to rights on questionable business ethics

Sometimes, we think that local New York paper The Wall Street Journal is too worthy by half. But, on occasions they write really good stuff. Credit where credit's due. The newspaper has just published a fab story showing that Intel set up a shell Cayman Island company in order to get hold of some patents it wanted. In the course of so doing, it really cheesed off a Texan judge trying to wind up the affairs of a company called International Meta. According to the WSJ, Intel created the shell company, called Maelen, to move a motion that patents it wanted should not be sold to a firm of lawyers called TechSearch. TechSearch got wind of the fact that Maelen was a front organisation for Intel. Judge Frank Monroe said Intel's tactics were "wholly inappropriate". Oh Chipzilla, when will you ever learn to tread lightly? ®