US Report: Intel appeals preliminary

Intel filed the appeal on Tuesday in the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington seeking to overturn a preliminary injunction issued last April in a lawsuit filed by Intergraph.

In appealing the injunction filed in the Intergraph lawsuit, Intel echoed its response to an antitrust complaint filed against it on Monday by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, which cited the Intergraph case, the Journal said in its electronic edition.

Intel's appeal did not involve the government's case against it but made some of the same arguments that the company's leaders voiced after the government case was filed. Intel said antitrust law requires proof of harm to overall competition. But the Intergraph case involved a customer with which it had a patent dispute, the newspaper quoted Intel as saying.

Intergraph filed its case in November 1997, alleging Intel cut off its supply of vital technical information during the patent dispute, the newspaper wrote.

In April Judge Edwin Nelson issued a preliminary injunction requiring Intel to continue supplying Intergraph with advanced technical information about microprocessors as well as prototype chips. According to the Journal, Intel's appeal argued that Intergraph is not really a competitor, as the judge ruled, in the market for "graphic subsystems."

Additionally, the newspaper said the appeal noted that Intel and Intergraph do not compete for graphics subsystem market share, and there is no proof that it is "dangerously probable" that Intel will monopolise that market.