This article is more than 1 year old

Intergraph demands instant conviction for Intel

Summary judgement sought in antitrust case

Intergraph has filed a motion in the Huntsville, Alabama district court requesting a summary judgement in its case against Intel. CEO Jim Meadlock said that "There's no sense in spending resources to prepare for and conduct a trial on the matter. The judge can rule based on the evidence at hand." Filing for judgement is the same legal stratagem that Microsoft tried unsuccessfully last week. It is rarely granted, but commercial cases have a better chance of such judgements than ones where the government is a party. An impediment to such judgements is where there are no significant factual issues that require examination in court. Intergraph obtained an injunction against Intel in April, following its November suit alleging that Intel had indulged in anticompetitive behaviour, patent infringement and violations of antitrust law. Intel appealed against the injunction. The judge has set a deadline of 14 February 2000 for a resolution of the dispute, or the matter will go to trial. Intergraph's results for the last quarter, reported at the end of July, showed revenue of $247 million for the quarter, down from $289 million in the year-earlier quarter, and losses per share up to $0.43, ten cents worse than a year earlier. Intergraph blamed the effect of the litigation with Intel. Intergraph's business is focussed on commodity-priced Windows hardware for 3D graphics, competing with UNIX boxes. The FTC, which has its own case against Intel, is doubtless watching the outcome of the Intergraph case as it is credited with having convinced the FTC to act. ®

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