Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch said Thursday that the Federal Trade Commission needs to be "careful" as it pursues Intel for alleged violations of antitrust law.
Hatch, a Utah Republican, dwelled mostly on potential violations of antitrust law by Microsoft (MSFT) in a speech at the Upside Magazine Summit. Hatch has been a strong defender of the Justice Department's pursuit of Microsoft for alleged violations of antitrust law.
But he took a different tack on Intel (INTC), the world's largest microprocessor producer.
There is a difference between intellectual property rights, which are "at the heart of the FTC's current Intel case," and the antitrust laws being invoked against Microsoft, Hatch said.
"The FTC and antitrust enforcers generally should be rather certain that any effort to enforce intellectual property rights both is intended to and actually will injure competition in a significant way, before concluding that it represents monopolistic behavior."
There is also a difference between the business presence of Microsoft and Intel in Hatch's home state. Microsoft doesn't have major operations in Utah, though one of Microsoft's biggest competitors, Novell (NOVL), has its headquarters there.
Intel, on the other hand, has a 400-employee office in American Fork, Utah, and is currently considering building a 140-acre research and development facility in Salt Lake County. The facility could eventually employ as many as 6,000 workers, but Intel stressed that it hasn't yet committed to construction.
"Just because we visit and even proceed down a path to get permits and even qualify a site, it doesn't mean we're eventually going to locate there," said Bill Calder, an Intel spokesman.
On 8 June, the FTC alleged that Intel had violated antitrust law by denying three of its customers -- Digital Equipment, Intergraph, and Compaq Computer -- technical information they needed to develop computer systems based on Intel microprocessors.
The FTC alleged that when the three tried to enforce their patents, Intel "retaliated by cutting off the necessary technical information and threatening to cut off the supply of microprocessors." The FTC said Intel holds a monopoly on microprocessors for PCs. Intel denies FTC's allegations.
The Intel case is set to be heard before an administrative law judge early next year.
An FTC spokeswoman had no comments on Hatch's remarks.
Reuters contributed to this report.
