Intel Will Pay $1.25 Billion to Settle Disputes With Rival reports: “Ending the computer industry’s most bitter legal war, the chip maker Intel agreed on Thursday to pay a rival, Advanced Micro Devices, $1.25 billion to settle antitrust and patent disputes.”
$1.25 billion in wealth transferred, and untold hundreds of millions spent on litigation, patent acquisition, losses due to strategic adjustments in response to antitrust and patent law … Yet another example of how the central state’s artificial legislative patent and antitrust schemes do nothing but destroy and waste wealth. Well, not only that–they also enrich certain classes who parasitically benefit from the system, e.g. patent lawyers, litigators, and large companies.
(See also my post Nokia’s infringement suit against Apple illustrates need to scrap US patent system.)
Update:
Chip giant Intel agreed to pay $1.25 billion in a settlement with AMD, a step that shores up its smaller rival and may defuse the mounting antitrust scrutiny Intel faces. – Digits: AMD Lawyer Hoped For A Big Day In Court – Text: Statement from Intel, AMD on settlement – News Hub: Tech Giants Make Peace
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704576204574531412169533976.html?mod=djemTECH
So, for a measly billion, Intel gets to basically defend itself from antitrust scrutiny. Better than paying a fine or divesting or whatever. Plus, it gets to vindicate its massive patent portfolio, which was surely used as a bargaining chip to lower the settlement amount. And AMD gets a billion, gets to stay in the game, and also gets to vindicate its IP spending and department.
Plus, both sides remain relatively free of new entrants and upstart competitors, who cannot build up patent arsenals big enough to let them enter into these negotiating games. Everybody wins, right?
