EU Levies $1.45 Billion Fine on Intel | Hacker News Reader

EU Levies $1.45 Billion Fine on Intel

online.wsj.com

28 pointsjeroen23 comments

WSJ would only let me see the first two paragraphs.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/EU-fines-Intel-145-billion-apf...

Protip: grab 5-8 contiguous words from the preview, go to news.google, search for that phrase, read your WSJ article for free.

This was much, much quieter than the Microsoft proceedings. Its generally the same story, but it was probably quieter since Intel isn't the OS, it doesn't evoke such strong emotions in the users.

It's less emotional, but in my book more cut and dry as well. Microsoft was bundling "free" things, for the most part, which honestly, I do believe have a part in a modern, rich desktop. Intel on the other hand was basically paying major vendors not to buy anything from its main competitor.

Are these major vendors considered culpable as well? I read the NY Times article and didn't see anything about that. It seems to me, though, that behavior like this could be stopped a lot earlier if those taking what are essentially bribes were held accountable as well.

How is this different from pricing and special discounts?

Its not. They just have 80% market share in a huge market, so they are treated differently. Technically these were optional rebates by intel, which I think is what pisses the intel guys off so much about this.

And rightly so, the whole history of antitrust law is completely full of injustice. It is impossible to tell what is legal or illegal because it is not defined, it is merely a tool for the government control successful companies.

Hum, I think:

Special discounts: We lower the price if you buy more than X amount. This: We lower the price if you buy more than X amount, and don't buy from the competition.

Does anyone know what the EU does with the money? Is it distributed among the member states? Is it added to their budget?

"The amount of the fines is paid into the Community budget. The fines therefore help to finance the European Union and reduce the tax burden on individuals."

http://ec.europa.eu/competition/cartels/overview/faqs_en.htm...

I wonder whether the fine will be taken out of "Intel Europe" profits (in which case member states can't collect as many taxes) or whether money will be moved from the US to Europe? In the latter case it's a small, but not insignificant, redistribution of wealth across the Atlantic..., sort of like the Marshall Plan, except without the smiles.

I doubt that they will lower the payments from the member states based on this. And if they did, I doubt that the member states will reduce the tax burdens because of that.

They have given fines out before. If anyone can point to an example where the tax burden was reduced after a fine, I would like to see it.

As I understand it, about 65% of the EU budget is paid by the states as a percentage of their Gross National Income. This percentage is decided by the Council (i.e. the member states themselves). So in theory the fine could lighten the burden on the states. However, the 2009 budget of the EU is about 130G EUR, the Intel fine is about 1% of that, and the EU budget is small compared to even a single member state, so the amount per citizen is negligible anyway.

So bureaucrats are robbing monopolists.

Text of the decision: http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/0...

Why would you submit an article that requires you to be subscribed in order to read more than a few paragraphs!!

I didn't. I looked for the best article on the subject, and especially one that didn't require registration, because I always have trouble with NYTimes articles.

I didn't know that the WSJ required registration, I don't have an account there, and I can still read the entire article.

Same here (no account, full article). Perhaps it's tied to location? You seem to be in Europe as well ... maybe it doesn't require registration from non-US IPs or something.

I'm in the US and it wants me to subscribe

I'm in Britain and I can read it without subscribing.

Is it just me or does 1.45B seem just a bit excessive?

Now I know how European countries pay for their very nice public transportation systems.

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